"ME": Shaquille O'Neal backs himself in ridiculously hypothetical 3-pt shootout
Fans of the NBA know very well that Shaquille O'Neal, the league's most dominant center during his time, cannot be relied on to shoot a jump shot. However, even though his impact on the court didn't account for his outside shooting, he still carved out one of the most legendary careers in basketball history.
Throughout his career, he attempted 22 3-pointers and successfully made just one. This gives him a very low 4.5% completion on his shots from downtown. The one three that he made was when he was still playing for the Orlando Magic.
Recently, the NBA on ESPN's official Instagram page posted a hypothetical question asking, "Who makes a 3-pointer first?" with Shaq, Yao Ming and Rudy Gobert being the three options. The post was also captioned, "Who you putting your money on?"
In the comments section, Shaquille O'Neal replied with a one-word response, letting everyone know who he would put his money on.
His reply simply said "me," which has already gained over 8,000 likes and over 240 responses, which range from shows of support to jokes and people outright saying he wouldn't be the one to make a 3-pointer first.
Also read: "Not Wemby, not Bol Bol, but me": Shaquille O'Neal comically claims being first big man to bring the ball up.
Shaquille O'Neal is among the NBA's scoring leaders despite only making one career 3-pointer
Nowadays, it seems that regardless of the position one plays, one needs to be able to hit a jump shot to be considered an effective scorer. However, this was not the case during O'Neal's era.
Despite making only 4.5% of his attempts from downtown, Shaq still holds the number eight spot in the NBA's all-time scoring list with 28,596 career points. Due to his strength, size and deceptive athleticism during his prime, O'Neal dominated the paint.
Shaq never scored less than 20 points per game in his first fourteen years in the league (1992-2006). During this time, he earned the NBA's scoring title twice. The first was in 1995, when he averaged 29.3 points per game with the Orlando Magic, and the second was in 2000, when he put up 29.7 points for the LA Lakers.
Even as his production declined due to age, O'Neal remained an efficient scorer. He would continue to average in the double digits in the points department until 2010. The only time he averaged under ten points per game was in his last season in the league with the Boston Celtics (2010-11), but he was still close to averaging over ten points (9.2).
Also read: "He could put you on video clip" - Tim Legler reveals his biggest fear facing Shaquille O'Neal.