Shaquille O'Neal checks in at No. 7 in The Athletic's 'The Basketball 100': 'Star of stars'

The Basketball 100 is the definitive ranking of the 100 greatest NBA players of all time from The Athletics team of award-winning writers and analysts, including veteran columnists David Aldridge and John Hollinger.

This excerpt is reprinted from the book, which also features a foreword by Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.

The Basketball 100 is available Nov.

26.

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Read David Aldridges introduction and all of the excerpts here .

Hes lovable.

The 7-foot-1 teddy bear with the animated general selling auto insurance.

Hes on the cover of Frosted Flakes and is a pizza pitchman with an executive role at Papa Johns.

You might be able to relate to him if you treat your back pain with Icy Hot.

He has gold (Gold Bond and an Olympic medal), and dont forget about the weekly back-and-forths with Charles Barkley on TNTs Inside the NBA.

Advertisement Shaquille ONeal may be retired from the NBA, but he is everywhere.

For a certain generation, its hard to imagine ONeal as one of the greatest basketball players ever.

But the playful big man was a punishing athlete who didnt just dunk.

The Diesel dunked through opponents, leaving bodies and broken backboards in his wake.

And not just backboards, as Darryl Dawkins did, but whole stanchions.

He did it while having fun and while intimidating opposing big men.

The story of the greatest players in NBA history.

In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process.

The story of the greatest plays in NBA history.

For the play that best captures that, lets rewind to March 25, 1999, as the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the New York Knicks .

ONeal receives a pass in the post from Kobe Bryant and backs down Knicks center Chris Dudley.

Before Dudley reacts, he is under the rim as ONeal spins to face the basket for a nasty dunk.

Dudleys face ends up in Shaqs torso.

ONeal kicks out his legs just like his Dunkman logo as Dudley hangs on to ONeals legs for dear life.

The dunk was powerful and disrespectful enough, but Shaq adds a shove at the end as if he were a big sibling pushing a little brother to the ground.

It was powerful, skillful, and a bit petty.

Dudley falls to the Great Western Forum floor, gets up, and chucks the ball at ONeal.

Its OK, Chris.

You werent the first or the last to feel the wrath of Shaq.

ONeal was the most dominant physical force of his generation.

His combination of size, strength, and basketball IQ made him a once-in-a-lifetime talent.

From his NBA arrival in 1992 in Orlando until his retirement in 2011, ONeal was a larger-than-life personality and player who took entertaining the fans as seriously as overpowering opponents.

The biggest star of stars, said Tyronn Lue, Los Angeles Clippers coach and former teammate of ONeal for three seasons with the Lakers.

I think he was an instant draw at Lakers games, him and Kobe [Bryant], with what they meant to the Lakers and what they meant to the city of LA.

Advertisement And it wasnt only Los Angeles.

Just how massive was ONeals presence? He was named to the NBAs 50th Anniversary Team in 1996 a mere four seasons into his career.

It was not well received by everyone, but Shaq lived up to the lofty recognition to cement himself as perhaps the most physically dominant post presence in league history, with only Wilt Chamberlain being in the conversation.

He was like nothing the league had seen, even with Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and David Robinson among the NBAs best bigs.

He was just bigger and stronger and faster than all of the other guys, said Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who was traded to Orlando in December 1992.

As good as Patrick Ewing was, as good as Hakeem Olajuwon was, David Robinson, those guys were all Hall of Famers, amazing players.

With every one of those opponents, Shaq was either bigger, stronger or faster or a combination of everything.

He was much bigger than Hakeem, he was much thicker than David, he was much faster than Patrick.

It was like he always had this physical advantage.

Because he was so raw and so young, the other guys had a skill advantage over him and thats what he had to work on those first few years in the league.

A raw ONeal averaged 23.4 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks in winning NBA Rookie of the Year, the start of what would become one of the greatest runs by one of the greatest centers of all time.

ONeal is the last true center to be the focal point of a championship team (if you believe Tim Duncan is not a center).

He won three consecutive NBA Finals MVPs (2000-2002), something only Michael Jordan (twice) has done.

ONeal is a four-time NBA champion, twice a league scoring champion and the 2000 league MVP.

He was a 15-time All-Star, winning All-Star MVP three times.

ONeal was named to 14 All-NBA teams, including eight first-team selections.

He retired with 28,596 points, now ninth in league history.

Advertisement He also changed the game away from the court.

Big men werent often the life of the party.

Some gave off a vibe of being uncomfortable or just frustrated with being so tall.

Not ONeal.

He had a magnetic charm and swagger that drew fans and teammates to him.

The thing that stood out most was his zest for life, Kerr said.

He had this incredible presence and personality that went beyond being a big guy.

Most big guys that Id been around were withdrawn, not exactly charismatic, quiet, and this guy was just a force from a personality, presence standpoint.

He was 7-foot-1 and a muscular 294 pounds when he entered the NBA and played at more than 300 pounds at his peak (he was listed at 325 pounds during his title runs).

His shoulders were so broad that he made even the biggest of NBA big men look as if they were small forwards.

If the NBA had a Paul Bunyanesque figure, it was ONeal.

Besides the brute strength that made stopping his dunks impossible, ONeal also was remarkably light on his feet.

He was no plodding lug through the paint.

ONeal was blessed with immaculate footwork, a quick first step, and nice touch around the rim that hed show off on his turnaround jumper or hook shot.

Thats what made him incredible in one sense the fact that he was the biggest, strongest man in the league, but he was fast, former teammate Luke Walton said.

He could pass the ball, but he played in the triangle offense, so theres no just pick-and-roll, and he understood the game; he was smart, he was a student of the game.

Like George Mikan and Wilt Chamberlain, great centers who played before him, ONeal changed the game with his dominance and size.

He demoralized so many defenders that the NBA allowed zone defenses to return in 2001-02.

It might as well have been called the Shaq Zone Defense provision.

Nothing says dominant quite like the league changing rules just to give the opposition a chance.

It was difficult to [defend] against Shaq because you had to do it individually, said ONeals Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

You could double-team, but you had to do it in a certain way, and Shaq was a great passer of the post.

He was the man who changed the game into what we have now in this era, which has eliminated a lot of post play, which is OK.

Advertisement You should be able to play basketball however you want to play it, but Shaqs dominance changed the game.

The best defense against ONeal was to put him on the free-throw line.

He shot 52.7 percent from the line for his career, and Hack-a- Shaq, fouling ONeal whether he had the ball or not, became a popular tactic.

ONeal wasnt just a star in Los Angeles.

He was an icon who was just as big as any Hollywood star or chart-topping musical artist.

He was Shaq the most dominant player on the court and one of the biggest presences off it.

I think when Shaq [signed] here, it just changed the whole dynamic of LA, Lue said.

How he was with the media, how he was with his teammates, how he was with the fans, so he was huge.

He was probably one of the biggest people in LA at the time.

When things fell apart with the Lakers after a 2004 NBA Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons and constant bickering with Bryant, ONeal was traded to Miami.

Within two seasons, the Heat were champions.

At his best, ONeal on your team meant you were a title contender.

He reached the NBA Finals with Orlando , the Lakers, and Miami.

There are many accolades, but there are critics who believe ONeal should have been even more dominant if he had been more serious about the game.

Early in his career, ONeal was a platinum-selling rapper who also starred in movies.

His fun-loving persona endeared him to fans, but critics said he should have focused more on the game.

After losing in the 1995 NBA Finals when the Magic were swept by the Rockets , ONeal played one more season for Orlando before bolting to Los Angeles, where it was assumed hed be a champion in short order.

But the cries about ONeal being distracted grew as the Lakers were being knocked out of the playoffs by Utah and San Antonio.

Though ONeal was a three-time Second Team All-Defensive second-team selection, the naysayers stated that he was a defensive liability, especially against the pick-and-roll.

Advertisement More importantly, for all the accolades, records sales, and movies made that were panned by critics, the biggest knock on him was that he wasnt a champion.

He famously said, Ive won at every level except college and the pros.

That all changed in 2000 when a driven ONeal paired with Bryant to lead the Lakers on a run of three consecutive titles.

ONeal put up otherworldly numbers during his second NBA Finals appearance, averaging 38 points, 16.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.7 blocks per game in annihilating Indiana.

The 1999-2000 regular season also resulted in ONeals only regular-season MVP award.

He averaged a career-high 29.7 points (led the league), 13.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3.0 blocks.

ONeal led in field-goal percentage (.574), one of nine times he paced the NBA.

He also averaged a career-high 40 minutes, which might be the most remarkable stat given his size and the beating he took from defenders who threw themselves on and at him.

In 2001, ONeal helped put away Philadelphia , a team that threw Dikembe Mutombo, a Hall of Famer and four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and other 7-footers at ONeal.

It didnt matter, as ONeal won another NBA Finals MVP by averaging 33 points, 15.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 3.4 blocks.

The Lakers swept New Jersey in 2002 with ONeal averaging 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.8 blocks for his third consecutive NBA Finals MVP.

Along the way, ONeal had a knack for irking his opponents.

For him it was just part of the entertainment.

He called the Sacramento Kings the Queens (a comment for which he later apologized for making).

After the Lakers went through the Kings in a seven-game Western Conference finals in 2002 en route to their third title, ONeal declared Sacramento was no longer the capital of California.

His fans loved it.

His critics, well, there were always going to be critics.

But even with success came drama.

Bryant publicly complained about ONeal not being in shape.

ONeal complained the young star was selfish.

Some of Bryants disdain could be traced back to the 2002-03 season, when ONeal delayed surgery on an injured toe and missed the start of the season because he was going to heal on company time.

Bryant took a beating; the Lakers started the season 11-19 and ended the season fifth in the West before being eliminated by the Spurs in the conference semifinals.

Advertisement The most dynamic one-two combo in the league split after that loss in the 2004 NBA Finals to Detroit.

The Lakers, siding with the younger, seemingly more committed Bryant, traded ONeal to Miami.

But ONeal wasnt washed up.

A rededicated ONeal helped the Heat reach the Eastern Conference finals and the 2006 NBA Finals.

But instead of being the centerpiece, ONeal did what he didnt do in LA and willingly deferred to the emerging guard Dwyane Wade, who led the Heat to a title in six games over the Dallas Mavericks and won NBA Finals MVP.

Miami traded ONeal to Phoenix in February 2008 after a rough start to the season and a rift with Pat Riley.

The deal to the Suns was unique in that coach Mike DAntoni implemented his Seven Seconds or Less offense in part to counter ONeal when he was with the Lakers.

Now an older ONeal could be used to counter an old nemesis, Duncan, should the Spurs be a problem for the Suns in the postseason.

Kerr said ONeals time in the triangle offense under Jackson allowed him to make such an adjustment.

Much of that offense ran through ONeal, who was a good passer and could read the floor well.

He was a really smart player, Kerr said.

I think everything came together for him in LA.

Phil Jackson was great for him and vice versa, and I think he took that experience from LA and carried that knowledge, that basketball IQ.

I think it carried forward and allowed him to play deeper into his age than a lot of people would have guessed.

In 2009, ONeal was an All-Star, winning co-All-Star MVP with Bryant as the former teammates were all smiles on that night.

But there would be no return to the NBA Finals for ONeal, who would make stops in Cleveland and Boston before retiring in 2011.

Bryant and ONeal ended up on good terms before Bryant died in 2020, and thats how most remember ONeal as a teammate.

For as punishing as he was off the court, he could be as caring and gracious off it.

He defended his teammates too.

Advertisement He was a fantastic teammate from a standpoint of he made everything fun, Walton said.

He was hard on the rookies, but on the court, he had our backs.

Anytime someone would mess with us, Shaq would punish them for us.

So whatever he wanted, we had to do, but he had our backs.

He was so much fun; he was dominant, and it was a lot of fun to play with him.

There arent centers in the NBA like ONeal anymore.

Not that his combination of size, strength, and skill cant be duplicated, but these days, centers who dont shoot the 3 and play on the perimeter are a rare group.

Offenses arent centered on big men such as ONeal, who planted themselves in the paint and made you pay.

But could a player such as Shaquille ONeal work in todays NBA? He would average 60, Lue said.

All the small ball and all that, you wouldnt be able to do that, not even a chance.

The way they play today, with Shaq, youd never get away with that.

Career NBA stats: G: 1,207, Pts.: 23.7, Reb.: 10.9, Ast.: 2.5, Win Shares: 181.7, PER: 26.4 Achievements: NBA MVP (00), 14-time All-NBA, 15-time All-Star, NBA champ (00, 01, 02, 06), NBA Finals MVP (00, 01, 02), Rookie of the Year (93), Olympic gold (96), Hall of Fame (16) Excerpted from The Basketball 100 published by William Morrow.

Copyright 2024 by The Athletic Media Company.

Reprinted courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic ; Photo: Sam Forencich / NBAE via Getty Images).

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