Former Miami Heat champion and all-time great big man Shaquille O’Neal has been reminding people for years. He still seems to have to do that in 2020.
When most people think about Miami Heat championships, they immediately tend to go to one era or period of time. Most of the time, people inevitably land on the Big 3 era when it comes to talking titles and Miami Heat basketball.
However, we are here to remind you, there was a Larry O’Brien trophy in South Beach before LeBron James or Chris Bosh ever arrived. This one is the one that was won at the end of the 2006 NBA season.
Being led then by a young, menacing, and supremely aggressive Dwyane Wade, he wasn’t the only all-time great future Hall Of Famer on that team. Something that the other guy himself probably still reminds people of to this day as well, The Diesel, Shaquille O’Neal was also a huge part of what made that team tick and all the way to that season’s title.
It’s actually pretty appropriate here to assume that he has to remind people of that though. Ironically or as we said, appropriately enough, that is ultimately the most rumored reason why he landed in Miami.
He wanted to remind those in Los Angeles who he was, while also wanting to get his next championship ring and title before his Los Angeles Lakers championship teammate did in Kobe Bryant. Shaq accomplished that mission by the end of that season with the Miami Heat.
That wasn’t the last time that he would have to serve to be a reminder to someone though. Recently, he found himself in a very similar position, but this time about another freaky player in the NBA. Here is a tweet from Fansided’s official twitter account that tells the tale.
"Giannis wasn't the first."@SHAQ delivering a little reminder.😤 pic.twitter.com/SRSRwOIUGl
— FanSided (@FanSided) May 7, 2020
He isn’t stretching it one bit either. Shaquille O’Neal was one of the first modern-day freaks that the NBA has seen it it’s history and was capable of doing the things that Giannis Antetokounmpo does.
It’s almost safe to say that if the game was philosophically thought of then as it is today as opposed to the low post, bang it out, mid-range to layup style that Shaq came of age in, that he would have been a very similar player to the Greek Freak.
If you don’t believe it, go watch complete highlights of The Big Aristotle throughout the years. They are powerful, but poetic at the same time. So as we have been saying from the top, Shaq has been reminding people for a long time and still is.