Watch: Shaquille O'Neal emphatically dunks on and then shoves Chris Dudley in arguably the most disrespectful play in NBA history, 23 years ago today
Former LA Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal was without a doubt the most dominant center the game of basketball has ever seen. O'Neal was a 7 foot 1 inch, athletic and physically dominant center who could get to the basket at will and get a bucket.
Shaq's dominance in the paint became such a headache for the rest of the league that they had to resort to hacks in order to get a defensive stop: foul Shaq the moment he got within 15 feet of the basket. Using the Shaq-a-hack, the league exploited his achilles heel-free throws.
Shaq shot 52.7% from the free-throw line in his career and is widely considered to be one of the worst free-throw shooters of all time, but his foul-shooting didn't hold him back from being one of the fiercest players in the paint.
Playing man-to-man defense on Shaquille O'Neal in the '90s and the early 2000s was no short of inviting him to posterize you, or worse - physically hurt you. Chris Dudley found that out the hard way:
23 years ago today, SHAQ did this to Chris Dudley!
Is this the most disrespectful play in NBA history?
https://t.co/yErQiN3sxu
The Big Aristotle has feuded with many on the court: Charles Oakley, Charles Barkley, Alvin Robertson, Chris Dudley, Brad Miller and many more.
Of the 19 years he spent in the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal won four championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006), three Finals MVPs (2000, 2001, 2002) and the regular-season MVP in 2000.
Shaquille O'Neal's career in retrospect
Shaq is a 4-time Champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 14-time All-Star and has been on both the NBA's 50th Anniversary team and 75th Anniversary team. He's often in conversation with the top-ten NBA players of all-time, often below his teammate Kobe Bryant.
Archive 75: Shaquille O’Neal
Recap the legacy of the 75th Anniversary Team’s Shaquille O’Neal. #NBA75
Go into the vault HERE: app.link.nba.com/e/archive75shaq https://t.co/WMLlbKV6Hb
Many, many jokes have been passed around about Shaq having ridden on Kobe's coattails to win his championships, but the same can be said of Kobe; Shaq averaged 29.7 points and 13.6 rebounds per game in the 1999-00 NBA season, whereas Bryant averaged 22.5 points per game.
In the 2000-01 NBA season, Shaq marginally beat out Kobe, averaging 28.7 points per game compared to Kobe's 28.5. He also averaged 13.6 rebounds per game for the season.
After the 2002-03 season Shaq saw a decline in his numbers: 21.5, 22.9, 20, 17.3, 13.6 points per game from 2004 to 2008. After 2006, Shaq never averged more than 18 points per game.
O'Neal retired in 2011, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, alongside Allen Iverson and Yao Ming.