When it comes to the greatest big men the NBA has ever seen, most of them have put on a Los Angeles Lakers jersey at some point. Perhaps the greatest, and undoubtedly one of the most dominant, was the legendary Shaquille O’Neal.
O’Neal was a physical force unlike anything the league had seen and he used his dominance to win four NBA Championships, three of which came with the Lakers. And for as large and dominant as Shaq was on the court, he was just as big of a presence off of it with all of his different endeavors that he continues to take on to this day.
It is no surprise then, that HBO decided to make a documentary on the Lakers legend, with the trailer for ‘SHAQ’ recently dropping, via HBO:
On the court, he was huge. Off the court, he is larger than life.#ShaqHBO, a four-part documentary series about the life, career, and legacy of Shaquille O’Neal, premieres November 23 on @hbomax. pic.twitter.com/u3CGW4WJBI
— HBO (@HBO) November 14, 2022
O’Neal was truly a legend both on and off the court, so him being the subject of a documentary series makes all the sense in the world. In fact, many might wonder why it took so long for something like this to come to fruition as Shaq was truly one-of-a-kind.
On the court, his combination of size, speed, power and athleticism made him truly unguardable by any single person in the league. Rules were changed because of what he was capable of and when he finally called it a career, his jersey would hang in the rafters of three different arenas as he made such an impact on the Lakers, Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat.
But Shaq would become larger than life because of everything he did off the court. O’Neal became a movie star, had a platinum rap album, became a DJ, and his number of investments and sponsorships are too many to name. Not to mention all of the charitable things he does regularly that put smiles on so many faces. Needless to say, there is plenty of ground to cover in multiple different areas when talking about Shaquille O’Neal.
The four-part documentary premieres on Nov. 23 on HBO Max.
Shaquille O’Neal discusses how he motivated Kobe Bryant on the Lakers
Shaq of course saw his greatest success with the Lakers and his partnership with Kobe Bryant is believed by many to be the greatest duo in NBA history. The two famously had some issues and eventually split up, but O’Neal has always said their problems were overblown and he recently discussed how he chose to help and motivate a young Kobe.
O’Neal noted that he used to regularly push Kobe’s buttons because he knew that would anger him and make him work even harder than he already was. Shaq made it clear that it was never anything personal, but simply his leadership style in order to get the best out of Bryant and considering they won three straight NBA Championships, it’s hard to argue with the results.
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