Michael Jordan once gave fellow NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal a piece of advice that he says changed his life forever.
Jordan and O’Neal are two of the greatest NBA players to have ever played basketball, with the latter once revealing that Jordan was the only player who left him ‘terrified’ on the court.
He told Logan Paul’s ‘Impaulsive’ podcast: “I went from high school, admiring him, in college, admiring him, and then he’s right there in front of you.
“All the s**t you see on your poster, he’s doing it in real life. Like he came by me so fast sometimes, I was like, ‘Oh s**t’.”
By 1996, Jordan was in the midst of his infamous second spell with the Chicago Bulls, having been enticed out of retirement a year earlier.
That year, Jordan was named as the NBA MVP for the fourth time, while the Bulls won the NBA Finals for the fourth time.
And after the Bulls defeated O’Neal’s Orlando Magic in the play-offs, Jordan gave his opponent a piece of advice that stuck with him forever – even if he didn’t realise what it meant at first.
Speaking on ‘Point Game’ with John Wall and CJ Toledano, O’Neal explained: “I can remember after the Bulls beat the Orlando Magic in ’96, as I was walking off the court, Michael Jordan said to me: ‘Before succeeding, you must first learn to fail’.
“I went back and watched all these other guys – they had to take those bumps and bruises.”
Shaq had to wait another four years after Jordan’s advice to win his first NBA Championship, doing so with the LA Lakers at the age of 28.
But he then won two more consecutive Finals, and was named MVP in all three Finals.
He then moved to the Miami Heat, and won his fourth and final NBA crown in 2006.