Like any other great athlete, Shaquille O’Neal has also always been confident of his talent. However, there is a catch! While many players go against their opponents in the heat of the moment, Shaq would not even spare his coaches. Recently, his ex-teammate Matt Barnes unveiled how the former Suns Center got into a war of words with his coach when he was with the Phoenix Suns.
By the time Shaq moved to Phoenix, he was 35 years old and was a 4x NBA champion. While he was surely past his prime, his confidence was still intact. Barnes, during his recent appearance on the ‘Forgotten Seasons’ podcast, talked about a verbal altercation Shaq had with coach Bill Cartwright. Barnes said,
“I saw him at the end, so he would give you some salty sh*t every once in a while. Or the way he used to talk to Bill Cartwright who was one of our coaches. He said, “Bill, you can’t tell me sh*t. I averaged 50, 27, and 10 on you”.
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Shaq and Barnes moved to Phoenix around the same time and got to be teammates for a season in 2008-09. Even at that age, Shaq averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 103 games that he played for the Suns.
Although his time with the Suns wasn’t very memorable in terms of winning games, Shaq was the biggest name in NBA history to represent the then-Phoenix franchise. Most people, who have played with the 7’1 giant, have great stories to tell, be it Barnes who had a short stint with him, or Devean George, who played alongside prime Shaq.
Playing with Shaquille O’Neal had its perks even outside of basketball
Yes, Shaq is the most dominant player ever, but there’s so much more to him than just basketball. He is also known in the hoop community as one of the most generous gentlemen. Recently, Devean George was also on the ‘Forgotten Seasons’ podcast, where he talked about his experience playing alongside Shaq for the Lakers.
George arrived in LA in 1999 after he was the 23rd overall pick in the 1st round. He was a part of the three-peat era of the Lakers, but there are other things that he earned during that time.
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George said on the podcast,
“Shaq was like Santa Clause. So for rookies, we don’t get paid until like November 15th….so he[ Shaq] takes care of the young guys. We get on the plane, and he hit you with a ward of $10,000 bills. Or, he will have you go do something. He had me go buy headphones. He gave me like $3000, and headphones for like $300”.
From the stories, it seems like Shaq had money to burn. But for someone working on a 4-year, $120-million contract, a few thousand dollars are minuscule at best. Shaq is known for his generous attitude towards people, be it giving away turkeys on Thanksgiving or distributing toys during Christmas. However, if it’s about his game, Shaq didn’t like to be told what to do, which even reflects even now once in a while.
