"Banged it on his motherf**king head" - Former NBA All-Star reveals provoking Shaquille O'Neal for iconic backboard-buster dunk in 1993

Shaquille O'Neal might have been the strongest player to ever step foot on the court. Aside from his goofy and playful personality, O'Neal was feared by most players during his time in the league. Unofficially, he shattered 12 backboards in his 19-year career, but the most iconic happened in 1993.

O'Neal stormed into the league in 1993 out of LSU and was an unstoppable force. During his rookie year, the Orlando Magic had a game against the New Jersey Nets. The Nets had a 6-foot-10 All-Star center, Derrick Coleman, who wanted to test O'Neal. He recently shared how he poked the bear during their matchup, which led to a broken backboard.

"Talking s**t, talking s**t," Coleman said. "And I drove that b***h and banged it on his motherf*****g head. I banged it, I hit him with that (finger wag). See, Dikembe [Mutombo] stole that from me."

"So, he come back next time again. We talking s**t. So, Dwayne Schintzius was there ... Shaq spinned on that motherf****r."

Coleman said everyone was too stunned to speak in the moment. The fans had their jaws dropped, as everyone was speechless, even the players. What's interesting was it happened during the opening quarter, and the players had to go back to their locker rooms while the officials and equipment team fixed the problem.

The game had a delay that lasted almost 30 minutes as they tried to replace the broken backboard.

You might also be interested in reading this: "I lost my family" - Shaquille O'Neal drops heartfelt wisdom to Jason Kelce on Philadelphia Eagles center's NFL retirement

---

Shaquille O'Neal shares the story of what happened with the viral video of him bringing down a rim

Shaquille O'Neal was unforgiving when it came to throwing down mean dunks. Even outside of NBA games, O'Neal didn't hold back and showed everyone what he could do. During a practice session with Ahmad Rashad, he shared how he brought the entire rim down.

O'Neal said Rashad was getting under his skin as they played one-on-one. The famed sports commentator wanted to see what the young star could do at the time, which the former top pick obliged.

"So I blew past him and dunked that thing so hard and the whole backboard shattered. It knocked me right on my a*s. For a second, I wasn’t sure what happened. I got up and I had some blood on my elbows ... He was petrified that his meal ticket had just shredded both of his arms," O'Neal said.

Luckily Shaquille O'Neal didn't suffer any serious injuries and only had minor cuts on his elbows. Still, it was a lesson not to provoke him as he was strong enough to bring an entire rim and backboard down.

Recommended Video

Guess the Lakers players!