Shaquille O'Neal takes to Instagram to highlight the feat only he, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar accomplished in the NBA
Shaquille O'Neal has always been a confident big man, as he always stacks up his accomplishments in the NBA with any all-time great. In his most recent Instagram story, 'The Big Aristotle' sizes up another record that only he, along with Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, have achieved.
This record was set by the players who won an MVP, NBA Championship, Finals MVP, scoring title and an all-defensive team in one season. Jordan did it four times, while Shaq and Kareem did it once.
In Jordan's six championships, he only missed this award sweep twice. Once in 1993 when he lost the MVP race to Charles Barkley and the other in 1997 when the media voted Karl Malone as MVP over him.
Meanwhile, Shaquille O'Neal did it once in 2000 with the Los Angeles Lakers while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971.
The graphic shown by Shaq also shows how dominant Michael Jordan was. Prior to winning championships in Chicago, MJ racked up awards in 1988 including the MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA First Team, All-Defensive First Team, Scoring champion, League leader in steals, All-Star Game MVP and Slam Dunk Contest winner.
Michael Jordan terrifies Shaquille O'Neal
Even with his hulking stature, Shaquille O'Neal feared the six-foot-six Michael Jordan whenever both of them stepped on the court. This was revealed by Shaq in an interview with Logan Paul:
“He’s the only man that had me terrified on the court. Because I went from high school, admiring him, in college, admiring him, admiring him and then he’s right there in front you and all the s*** you see on your poster like he’s doing it in real life like he came by me so fast sometimes I was like oh s***,” tells Shaq.
On the other hand, Shaq also boasts that his Orlando Magic team in 1995 was the last squad that defeated Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in a seven-game series. The Magic moved up to the 1995 NBA Finals only to be swept by the Houston Rockets.
At the same time, the loss suffered by Jordan at the hands of Shaq and Penny's Magic team paved the way for his next three-peat in the NBA from 1996 to 1998.