When Shaquille O'Neal shared how Phil Jackson’s advice transformed his career: "No more rapping, no more videos, no more movies”

Shaquille O'Neal's career in Orlando ended with O'Neal having made several All-Star teams and the 50th Anniversary team. However, the big awards — the MVPs, the Larry O'Brien Trophys — were missing from his resume.

This all changed when O'Neal was coaxed into signing with the Lakers by NBA icon Jerry West.

However, O'Neal's arrival in LA was punctuated by Phil Jackson's idiosyncrasies and regulations which he had to abide by, as detailed by O'Neal in an interview with Graham Bensinger:

"He's like, 'Listen, you're doing good, but no more rapping, no more videos, no more movies. I need you to concentrate.' I'm like, 'Why? I make a lot of money doing it. Why would I stop doing that?' He said, 'If you listen to me, you can win MVP this year, and we can win a championship.'

"It actually kind of worked. I think that year I averaged 29 (points per game), played 79 games, MVP by far, actually would have made history, I would have been the first ever unanimous decision MVP, but this idiot gives two votes to Allen Iverson and messes up history.

"I checked his resume, got six with the great Michael Jordan. So, yes, sir. Whatever you tell me to do, I'm going to do."

Shaquille O'Neal's MVP season recapped

Shaquille O'Neal, Legends & Celebrity Softball Game

Despite Shaquille O'Neal's monumental achievements in his two decades in the NBA, O'Neal ended his career with a single MVP trophy, something that has always been a subject of debate.

O'Neal has often joked about former Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash taking away at least one of his two MVP awards. However, many truly believe that to be the case.

In the years Nash won MVP, O'Neal averaged 21.6 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. In O'Neal's 2000 MVP season, he averaged 29.7 ppg, 13.6 rpg and 3.0 bpg.

So, while O'Neal may believe otherwise, Nash might just have been the rightful winner of the 2005 and 2006 MVP awards.

However, O'Neal's 2000 MVP season was unarguably his best year in the NBA. O'Neal won the MVP, the Finals MVP and the NBA championship.

O'Neal's stats from the season roughly look like this:

G	GS	MP	FG%	eFG%	FT	FTA	FT%	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
79	79	40	0.57	0.57	5.5	10	0.5	3.8	0.5	3	2.8	3.2	30

Besides, his defensive rating of 95 is by far the best of his career, and within two-feet of the basket, O'Neal shot a staggering 77.6%, third-highest of his career.

O'Neal's career high in points — 61 against the LA Clippers — came in the same season. O'Neal finished the season leading the league in points and was second in rebounds and third in blocked shots. As mentioned before, O'Neal took home the MVP with 120 first-place votes, missing out on the unanimous title by a sliver.