"It kind of made me cry" - Shaquille O'Neal on watching 'The Queen of Basketball' documentary
Shaquille O'Neal is one of the executive producers of the documentary 'The Queen of Basketball', which features the story of legendary women's basketball player Lusia 'Lucy' Harris. After watching the documentary, O'Neal became emotional, with tears welling up in his eyes.
In an exclusive interview with Matthew Carrey of Deadline, Shaq discussed the documentary and how he felt watching it. The short film is about Lusia Harris, one of the most dominant female basketball players in history, but is rarely talked about now.
"It kind of made me cry. I don’t usually cry at movies. But I said to myself, 'I got to do whatever it takes to bring this story to the world,'" Shaquille O'Neal said.
Help me blow this up for the GOAT! The story of the legendary Lucy Harris, THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL.  #QueenOfBasketball #QueenLucy #theGOATyouneverheardof youtube.com/watch?v=vPFkco…
Shaquille O'Neal described Harris as a 'power center' and compared her with himself. Shaq is one of the most dominant players in NBA history, while Harris was the same during her playing days. She has three national titles on her resume, winning them in consecutive years at Delta State University from 1975 to 1977.
Harris also won an Olympic silver medal at the 1976 Games in Montreal, Canada. She scored the first-ever basket in the history of Olympic women's basketball. Harris is the only woman to ever get officially drafted into the NBA, back in 1977 by the New Orleans Jazz.
Even though she was one of the most accomplished women's basketball players ever, Harris never really got the national recognition she deserved. It was one of the reasons Shaquille O'Neal decided to get involved with her documentary and tell Harris' story to the world.
'The Queen of Basketball', directed by the Oscar-nominated Ben Proudfoot, is already generating Oscar buzz. If the documentary wins an Oscar, O'Neal will join Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Mike Conley Jr. as the only NBA players to win an Academy award.
Shaquille O'Neal is no stranger to the Hollywood industry
In addition to being a Hall of Famer and basketball legend in Hollywood, Shaquille O'Neal also has credits as a producer and actor. Some of the films he has produced include 'Unqualified', 'A Week in Watts', 'Killer Bees' and 'Foster Boys'.
Shaq also produced and starred in the infamous films - Steel and Kazaam. The LA Lakers legend is not afraid to venture into Hollywood because of his personality. He's a natural comedian, as evidenced by his cameos in 'Grown Ups 2', 'Jack and Jill' and 'Scary Movie 4'.
In Grown Ups 2 Shaq gives a man a noogie so hard that it hurts his brain and then he throws him over a house https://t.co/QbO3xNmOZd
Shaquille O'Neal has also appeared on television shows such as 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', 'My Wife and Kids' and 'The Parkers'. He has even lent his voice to characters for several animated series, such as 'Static Shock', 'Johnny Bravo' and 'American Grandpa'.
“I thought Kazaam was bad!”
Shaq roasting Charles Barkley’s acting in #SpaceJam https://t.co/N3b4qQgboJ
However, Shaq's most entertaining gig involves being one of the hosts of the legendary 'Inside the NBA' on TNT with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. The show, one of the most popular sports TV shows ever, continues to provide smiles to fans worldwide.