"This kid is foaming at the mouth, and his eyes are rolling back in his head" - Shaquille O'Neal opened up on almost killing a person in school in the book "Shaq Uncut"
Shaquille O'Neal was an unstoppable force that the NBA had no answer for. By the time his career was over, O'Neal had racked up four championships, two scoring titles, one MVP and three Finals MVPs.
Most don't think about what the NBA would be like without the All-Star center, but it was almost a reality. In his book, "Shaq Uncut," O'Neal reveals an incident from his youth that changed his life forever.
While in school, O'Neal was exposed by a classmate for something he had done. Knowing he was about to get in serious trouble, O'Neal wanted to get revenge on his classmate for what he had done. After waiting hours for him after school, he roughed him up for getting him in trouble.
"That's why when I dunk I try to rip the rim off....because I was always mad at him. A lot of people don't know this story."
Spoke with Shaq about missing free throws and how a physical hit from his dad changed the entire way he played basketball.
FULL: youtu.be/nxWPFHYW_TM https://t.co/dZXgNsmVSZ
O'Neal didn't want to drastically harm his classmate, but things took a scary turn. As the altercation went down, the kid went into epilpetic shock.
O'Neal said:
"This kid is foaming at the mouth, and his eyes are rolling back in his head and Iām thinking, 'Oh, no, I really have killed him.'"
Luckily, a bystander driving by saw what was happening and called 911 so an ambulance could retrive the boy. After seeing how horribly wrong things had gone, O'Neal vowed to change his ways.
"That was it for me. From that day on, I was done being a bully."
What if Shaquille O'Neal never got to step foot in the NBA?
Thankfully, all parties involved were able to walk away from this altercation. While things worked out in the end, there is still the what-if of this fight taking a fatal turn.
The biggest what if is what happens to the NBA if Shaquille O'Neal is never able to take the court. A mistake of this magnitude could have cost him his career. For starters, the league would have missed out on a generational talent and one of the best big men to ever play the game.
Two other interesting ripple effects involve the Orlando Magic and LA Lakers.
The Magic were an up-and-coming franchise when they drafted O'Neal. Without him, would the franchise have been able to take off the way it did?
Even deeper than that is what comes of the Lakers if they don't land O'Neal in free agency? If his career never gets a chance to take off, it means no three-peat with him and Kobe Bryant, costing the NBA one of its most dominant two-man pairings in history.
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There will never be another duo like @SHAQ and Kobe šŖš¾ https://t.co/tLttEmtd5T
This had to be a truly horrifying moment for Shaq, but at least he was able to learn from his mistake and grow into a better person.