"Idiot, Fred Hickman messes up history” – When Shaquille O’Neal publicly bashed reporter who denied him unanimous MVP
Shaquille O'Neal could have been the first unanimous MVP of the NBA many years before Steph Curry accomplished the feat. During the 1999-00 season, which woas the first year he and Kobe Bryant won a championship together, O'Neal was just one vote shy of the feat.
After a historic season that saw him average a career-high 29.7 points along with 13.6 rebounds per game, O'Neal was snubbed by one media member. When it came time to vote, it was Allen Iverson who received the only vote that didn't go to O'Neal.
That season, O'Neal's LA Lakers finished 67-15, the best in the NBA by an overwhelming amount. On the flip side, Iverson's Philadelphia 76ers finished the year in fifth place in the East with a 49-33 record.
Given how close he came to going down in history as the first unanimous MVP, it's no wonder Shaquille O'Neal remains bitter over the situation. During an interview several years ago he spoke about the snub:
"I played 79 games, MVP by far. I actually would have made history but some idiot in Atlanta – I wish I could say his name, because I would call him an idiot to his face – he messed up history. I would have been the first-ever unanimous decision MVP, but this idiot – Forgot his name. Yeah, Fred Hickman. Idiot. – gives two votes to Allen Iverson and he messes up history. Idiot.
"After all the hard work I put in, idiot Fred Hickman messes up history."
The backlash Fred Hickman received from Shaquille O'Neal fans
After casting his vote for Allen Iverson, Fred Hickman received some pretty horrifying backlash from Shaquille O'Neal fans. As he recalled in an interview after the fact, he even received death threats:
"It was crazy. I got death threats. I certainly didn’t mean to be the lone one. All I did was picked the guy who was the most valuable to his team. Philadelphia without Iverson was a CBA team, and if the Lakers didn’t have Shaq, they would have still been a pretty good team."
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Hickman died in 2022 as a result of liver cancer at the age of 66. As JT The Brick recalled, after casting the controversial MVP vote for Iverson, Hickman stood by his decision.
According to the radio host, at the time the controversy was fresh, Hickman was listening to him criticize the decision to vote for Iverson as MVP. Instead of seething with rage, Hickman called into the show and the pair had a great debate on the matter.
Afterwards, the two hopped on the phone to talk for another half an hour, coming to the conclusion that while they may disagree, they enjoyed the open discussion.
RIP to sports broadcaster Fred Hickman. A class act. He was listening one night to my show when I was justly criticizing him for his lone NBA MVP vote for Allen Iverson. SHAQ would have been unanimous MVP. Fred called in to discuss the topic. We had a real conversation and debate
after the call, he left his phone number with my producer. I called him back after the show and we talked for 30 minutes. I disagreed with his analysis, but enjoyed hearing his thoughts. I'll never forget that night.
He covered big sporting events well!