Shaquille O’Neal Roasts Former Kings Star With Throwback to Lakers’ Dominating Days

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant made the Los Angeles Lakers the most dominating team in the early 2000s.

Shaquille O’Neal Roasts Former Kings Star With Throwback to Lakers’ Dominating Days

Shaquille O'Neal trolls Mike Bibby's Kings (Image via FirstSportz)

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Shaquille O’Neal is known as the most dominant player in NBA history. Most of those dominating days were spent with the Orlando Magic and with the Los Angeles Lakers.

With the former, the 7′ 1″ center established himself as the best young player to take over from Michael Jordan as the NBA’s premier superstar. He had the skill, the size, athleticism, and the flair to be the ‘Face of the League’.

When he signed with the Lakers, he was instantly viewed as the biggest name in the NBA. However, the team was not as dominating as he would have liked initially.

Once a young Kobe Bryant developed to become his perfect partner in crime, the Lakers were seen as a legitimate championship threat. At the same time, there was another Western Conference duo in the making.

On their way to winning the 2000 and 2001 NBA titles, the Lakers defeated the Sacramento Kings in the playoffs. Seeing the blueprint in front of them, the franchise decided to create its own dynamic duo and traded for then-Vancouver Grizzlies star Mike Bibby.

Bibby and Chris Webber powered the Kings to an NBA-best 61-21 record, whereas the Lakers were 3 games behind. In the playoffs, the two franchises met in the West Finals.

Despite those battles, Shaquille O’Neal has maintained a good relationship with Mike Bibby. While he was a guest on the latter’s podcast, a young fan asked the Diesel what his favorite NBA moment was.

Beating the Sacramento Kings.

Shaquille O’Neal replied on Straight Game Podcast

Bibby and everyone inside the hall laughed hard at this troll. But it was the truth, as O’Neal and Bryant defeated the Kings in 7 games and went on to win their 3rd straight title.

The impact of Shaquille O’Neal and his Lakers is still felt by the Kings

Whenever a team starts to dominate year in year out, the rest of the league tends to follow their process. After the Golden State Warriors laid the blueprint, others tried to follow it in their own way.

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were dominant in the early 2000s
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were dominant in the early 2000s (Image via People)

Similarly, when Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant powered the Los Angeles Lakers to back-to-back championships, the Sacramento Kings felt their own 1-2 punch would lead them to the promised land.

However, it was not to be, as the Lakers’ duo alone was too powerful for anyone to overcome. Since then, the Kings have tried to continue with their duo of Chris Webber and Mike Bibby, but consistently come up short.

The problem is that the Kings have still not recovered from those setbacks. Coaching changes, ownership changes, nothing has helped turn their fortunes around.

Even their recent combination of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis was potent, but not good enough to make the franchise a championship contender. Now, they are trying with a different iteration using two ball-dominant guards alongside Sabonis, hoping it will change their history.

Shaquille O’Neal believes 5 Stephen Currys would beat 5 clones of him

Shaquille O’Neal was the most dominant player in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After that, the concept of a powerful, dominant big man has changed as the NBA moved into a different direction. Now, the blueprint is to find a superstar scorer, similar to Stephen Curry. When Overtime asked the big man who would win between 5 of his prime self and 5 prime Curry’s, O’Neal replied.

Oh, Steph. He’s a better shooter, he’s a better free-throw shooter…He has no weaknesses; I had one.

Shaquille O’Neal said

The former league MVP believes on free throws alone, Curry would outscore him. O’Neal had just one major flaw, and that was free throws, and hence his take on the same.

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