It is generally agreed that Shaquille O’Neal was the most dominating player in the whole history of the NBA. Because of his aggressive, physical style of play, he was able to achieve great success at an era that included some of the greatest centers in the history of the position.
Shaq was not afraid to endure some punishment in order to give it back in double quantity. Because of this, seeing him do his highlights is one of the most exciting things to do.
In his peak, Shaq was easily recognisable thanks to his off-court antics, his relentless performance on the court, and his signature style of play. Despite the fact that he has collected up a crazy number of honours, one particular statistic continues to stand head and shoulders above the others.
How many backboards did Shaq break?
Shaq has had a successful career in the NBA, during which he has won several titles, including those of All-Star, NBA, and Scoring Champion.
He has won most valuable player, defensive player of the year, and rookie of the year awards. He now lies in eighth place on the list of all-time scorers with a total of 28,596 points. In addition, Shaq has reportedly shattered 12.5 backboards, including two of them while playing in an NBA game.
The first of those dunks happened when the Utah Jazz were playing the Phoenix Suns. Shaq leaped to grab the offensive rebound and complete the put-back slam.
He lingered on the rim for a fraction of a second longer than was safe, and as a result, the basket lost all of its structural integrity. Nevertheless, this was not even close to being the worst one.
During yet another matchup versus the Nets, Shaq was the recipient of a pass in the area close to the baseline. He got there by doing his trademark move, which was described as “one bounce and making your way to the rim.”
There was competition for the dunk, but Shaq’s was more impressive. powerful enough to dislodge the backboard and shoot clock from the basket during a dunk while also causing the tank to come dangerously close to tipping over.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) was under pressure to change the whole material that went into the production of these basketball hoops.
His rim-rattling dunks were so powerful that they prompted a rule adjustment at the highest level of basketball competition. Because of this, the NBA was required to maintain a backup hoop at each of the arenas.
Despite this, Shaq found this activity enjoyable, and upon his retirement, he constructed a “tree” out of the several backboards that he had shattered throughout his career. Additionally, it was the single most effective technique to illustrate his superiority in a photograph.