Shaquille O’Neal is one of the kindest souls when he is off the court, but on the court, he means business. Even almost 25 years later, the Los Angeles Lakers legend fumed over missing out on creating history in the NBA world. On top of it, he was also dejected after Stephen Curry snatched the glory from him. Eight years after the Golden State Warriors superstar cracked the unanimous MVP award in the 2015-16 season, Shaq opened up.
In 2000, Dr. Shaq was on the brink of creating history, winning the first-ever unanimous MVP award. However, he lost that privilege by just one vote. One out of the 122 people who voted for the award decided to hold back, infuriating the big man. Additionally, to rub salt in his wounds, years later, Steph stole the prize that Shaq eyed for a long time.
Featuring in the latest episode of From the Point by Trae Young, Shaquille O’Neal opened up about various stories from his career. During one of the conversations, Shaq expressed about how he always likes to be first and not the second. He immediately expressed disappointment in not being able to be the first player with unanimous MVP.
He said, “When my mother told me the other day, she’s like, ‘baby, you are the second’, I was happy but I was pi**ed because I wanted to be the first. Like, for example, I would have been the first unanimous MVP… Steph became the first unanimous that’s also pi**ed me off.”
Stephen Curry had a rock-solid season in 2015-16, averaging 30 points with 50% FG, which was enough to convince a unanimous MVP.
This wasn’t the first time where Shaq has opened up about missing out on unanimous MVP. Let’s find out about the previous furious one.
Shaq doesn’t seem to let go of the unanimous MVP
19 years later, Shaquille O’Neal brought out the name of the person who didn’t cast that one particular vote on television. Moreover, he didn’t just say his name but expressed his disappointment in him for spoiling an NBA record, reported Yahoo Sports.
He said, “Fred Idiot Hickman… I hate him… There’s nothing to apologize about. Because he destroyed history being a ****.”
However, Shaq could pull off a unanimous Finals MVP in his career. In the same season where he missed the unanimous MVP, he continued his domination in the postseason, averaging 38 points in the six-game series, and received all 7 votes for the Finals MVP.