Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), commonly known as Shaq, is one of the most dominant basketball players today and currently plays for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association.

At 7'1" and 325 pounds (2.16 m, 147 kg), he is one of the largest NBA players. O'Neal led the Los Angeles Lakers to three consecutive NBA titles (2000, 2001, 2002). He was named MVP of the NBA Finals all three times and has the highest scoring average for a center in Finals history. He was also voted the 1999-2000 regular season Most Valuable Player, almost becoming the first unanimous MVP in NBA history. O'Neal was the youngest person named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History; he has played in the All-Star Game every year since his rookie season in 1993 (except for the 1999 lockout season). O'Neal has also improved into one of the league's best defenders, receiving All-NBA-Defensive honors in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

O'Neal's game is based around his massive frame, and an athleticism and agility befitting a much smaller player. Lacking a jump shot, he scores many of his points with slam dunks. Not surprisingly, his dunks are more dramatic than "jams" by other players. However, not everyone has been awed by his power: John Wooden has dismissed his game as "a dunker." He is unstoppable at the low post, and analysts say O'Neal is the most unguardable player in the past 30 years, often comparing him to the legendary Wilt Chamberlain. O'Neal is also an outstanding rebounder at both ends of the court, and a good shot-blocker. O'Neal does have a famous weakness: he is a very poor free throw shooter; his percentage (around 50%) is below that of most amateur players. He virtually never attempts three-point shots but has no need to (although he did hit one against the Milwaukee Bucks in 1996).

O'Neal was named "Shaquille Rashaun" ("Little Warrior" in Arabic) by his father, Joseph Toney. A star high school basketball player from a prominent Newark family, Toney attended Seton Hall, but dropped out when he became addicted to drugs. He was sent to federal prison for a check-forging operation he undertook to finance his drug use in December 1972. Shaq's mother, Lucille O'Neal, then married Phillip Harrison, whom Shaq considers his "real" father. Toney told an interviewer he lost track of his son until he saw him in a prep all-star game on television. Toney said he was told Shaq would see him after a 1992 Orlando Magic/New Jersey Nets game, but Shaq never showed. O'Neal has said he has no desire to meet Toney, who was living in a Newark Goodwill facility as of 2002, and even cut a scathing rap song about him called "Biological Didn't Bother."

Shaq lived a good part of his childhood in Germany, where Harrison was stationed with the U.S. Army. It was there that he learned to play basketball. He first gained national attention as a star at Robert G. Cole High School in San Antonio, Texas. As a young man, he attended Louisiana State University, where he first became known by many basketball fans around the globe. In 1992, he was chosen by the Orlando Magic, and he helped the team to 41 wins that year, missing the playoffs by a single game. He further raised his fame that year with two infamous dunks which broke the supports holding the basket and backboard, both on national television: the first coming against the Phoenix Suns on NBC, the second against the New Jersey Nets on TNT.

In the 1993-94 season, Shaq helped the Magic to their first playoff berth ever, and he also debuted in Hollywood, and released a rap CD, named Shaq Diesel. The movie Blue Chips, alongside teammate Anfernee Hardaway and Nick Nolte, marked his Hollywood debut.

In 1994-1995, O'Neal and Hardaway helped their team reach the NBA Finals, but they were swept in four games by Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith, and the rest of the Houston Rockets. After the 1995-1996 season, Shaq, asking for $120 million over seven years, left Orlando to join the Lakers. He and teammate Kobe Bryant formed one of the most effective guard-center combinations in the NBA, forming the basis for three championship teams.

During the winter of 2002-2003, O'Neal became involved in a racial controversy when it was revealed that, while being interviewed by a Fox TV reporter the previous June 28, he said: "Tell Yao Ming, 'Ching chong yang wah ah soh,'" and making simulated kung fu gestures while uttering the words. The incident received scant attention at the time, but when an audio clipping of it was replayed several times by Fox Sports Radio on two consecutive days in mid-December 2002, a media firestorm erupted, with many Asian-American advocacy groups demanding that O'Neal apologize. Not only did he apologize, but he also appeared with Yao in a telethon on Chinese television to raise money for victims of the SARS epidemic.

In 2004, following a NBA Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons, O'Neal said that he would not return to the Lakers, asking instead to be traded. On July 14, he was officially traded to the Miami Heat for Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and a first-round draft pick. In addition to cameo appearances, Shaq has made it to the big screen in Blue Chips (1994) with Nick Nolte, Kazaam (1996) and Steel (1997).

O'Neal married long-time girlfriend Shaunie Nelson on December 26, 2002; they have 3 children: Shareef Rashaun, Amirah Sanaa, and Shaquir Rashaun. He also has a daughter, Taahirah, by ex-girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh.