Shaquille O'Neal confessed he was 17 years old when he threw down his first dunk.
The revelation came after J.J. Redick, the latest guest on The Big Podcast, discussed the first time he dunked at the age of 13 after hitting a significant growth spurt.
"In eighth grade, I hit this growth spurt, 5-foot-6 to 6-foot-3," Redick recalled at the 25:30 mark above. "Being able to dunk with two hands at 13."
Shaq made it clear that he did not believe Redick's account. "You're not fucking dunking at 13," he responded. "I wasn't dunking till 17."
J.J. was confused why it took Shaq until he grew to 6-foot-11 for him to dunk. "There was something physically wrong with you then," he joked. O'Neal admitted he tried once before, missed the dunk, and had been "scared" ever since.
The NBA Hall of Fame also dealt with Osgood-Schlatter disease, which is described in John Hopkins Medicine as "knee pain in young children and adolescents who are still growing." It typically impacts children who actively participate in sports that require a lot of jumping and running.
Everything changed for Shaq after he missed a finger roll layup near the basket during a game. His stepfather Phillip Harrison, whom he commonly refers to as "Sarge" due to his past as a military drill sergeant, told him to call a timeout because he wanted to speak with him.
Harrison proceeded to slap Shaq and urged him to stop imitating Magic Johnson and play to his size, which meant dunking the basketball. O'Neal tapped into the anger he felt toward his stepdad in that moment, took it out on the rim, and a ferocious dunker was born.
Looking back, Shaq understands why his late stepdad was so hard on him and believes he was "one of the wisest people I know." The big man also remembered a few life lessons he learned from him that he still holds onto.
"He said, 'Let that jealousy motivate you.' And I used to be like, huh?" O'Neal said in an interview with West Wilson for Complex in March. "He's like, 'I see you looking at the guy in his shoes. Let that jealousy motivate you, not motivate you to do nothing crazy but what you gonna do to get a brand new pair of shoes.'"
