Shaquille O'Neal retired because of his Achilles but claimed his toe injuries were his worst
Daniel Foster Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most iconic NBA superstars of all time.
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The 7’0 center took the league’s attention from his rookie season at Orlando. Shaquille O’Neal announced himself in the big time with an all-star season as a rookie and then vied for top dog status with Michael Jordan in the East.
Subsequent homes provided to be more successful than Orlando however. O’Neal enjoyed championship runs including a three-peat with the Lakers and then won another ring with the Heat.
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However, the second half of Shaq’s career ran a journeyman path. With Shaq’s poor conditioning cited as one of the reasons, his decline was well-recorded.
Despite this, the fact remains that O’Neal was a very reliable player when it came to availability. Big Diesel rarely ever missed games and was a durable athlete.
With long careers often seeing injury-riddled spots, it is natural to assume that a player with a career as long as Shaq’s went through a few injuries. Shaq’s pal Kevin Hart was one of us in making such an assumption. Until Shaq proved him wrong and shocked him on live television.
What was Shaq’s revelatory statement to Kevin Hart regarding injuries?
With injury talk often becoming a topic in sports discussions, Hart felt it was appropriate to hear Shaquille O’Neal describe some of his graphic injuries. And this turned out to be one of the most underwhelming TV moments featuring Superman.
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Shaq told Hart how his most troubling injury was to his….toes.
Yes, Shaquille O’Neal’s worst injury during the course of a career that transgressed decades was on his toes. Not taking anything from the pain that may cause, the build-up and subsequent reveal were surprisingly mellow.
Hart countered Shaq and reminded him of his thumb injury. Hart’s hopes of reigniting a memory and a more describable injury, however, were short-lived.
Shaq countered Hart by educating him about how toes are much more sensitive and prone to pain. The big man even offered to help Hart go through the experience, which Hart rejected, naturally.
While fellow big men like Yao Ming struggled with their injuries, Shaq really was out there nursing a broken toe. Big Diesel’s availability was incredible for the physical toll he took as after 19 years, his right Achilles giving out would be the nail in the coffin. The man must have been secretly conditioned after all, maybe?
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