Background and career
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (born March 6, 1972), often referred to by his nickname "Shaq", is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst. A 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) center, O'Neal played for six different teams over his 19-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a four-time NBA champion, three-time NBA Finals MVP, and the 2000 NBA MVP. He is widely regarded as one of the most dominant centers in NBA history and one of the greatest basketball players of all time. After playing college basketball for the LSU Tigers, O'Neal was selected by the Orlando Magic with the first overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. He was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 1992–93 and led his team to the 1995 NBA Finals. After four years with the Magic, O'Neal signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers. He and the Lakers won the NBA championship in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Amid a feud between O'Neal and his teammate Kobe Bryant, O'Neal was traded in 2004 to the Miami Heat, where he won his fourth NBA championship in 2006.
During the last several years of his career he spent short stints with the Phoenix Suns, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. O'Neal's accolades include 15 All-Star Game selections, three All-Star Game MVP awards, 14 All-NBA team selections, three NBA All-Defensive Team selections and two scoring titles. He is one of three players to be named NBA MVP, All-Star Game MVP and Finals MVP in the same year. He ranks 9th all-time in points scored, 6th in field goals, 15th in rebounds, and 8th in blocks. He had a 58.2% career field goal percentage and led the league in field goal percentage ten times. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the FIBA Hall of Fame, and was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team and the NBA 75th Anniversary Team as one of the greatest players in league history. In addition to his basketball career, O'Neal has released four rap albums, including the platinum-certified Shaq Diesel (1993) and the gold-certified Shaq Fu: Da Return (1994). Under the name Diesel, he produces electronic music and tours as a DJ.
He has appeared in numerous films and has starred in reality shows such as Shaq Vs. and Shaq's Big Challenge. O'Neal is the general manager of the Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team.
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal was born on March 6, 1972, in Newark, New Jersey, to Joe Toney and Lucille O'Neal. Toney had played high school basketball and was offered a scholarship to play at Seton Hall. He struggled with drug addiction and was imprisoned for drug possession when O'Neal was an infant. Upon his release, he did not resume a place in O'Neal's life and relinquished his parental rights to O'Neal's stepfather, Phillip Arthur Harrison, a career Army sergeant. O'Neal remained estranged from Toney for decades and was not interested in establishing a relationship. In his 1994 single "Biological Didn't Bother", O'Neal called Harrison his father. Harrison died of a heart attack in 2013. O'Neal met Toney for the first time in 2016. O'Neal's family moved many times during his childhood, sometimes staying with relatives, including O'Neal's grandmother in Jersey City. In addition to living in multiple cities in New Jersey, the family also lived in Georgia, Texas and Germany. In his 2002 autobiography, O'Neal wrote that he still considers Newark his home.
How Shaquille O'Neal makes money
After four years with the Magic, O'Neal signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth, in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
