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The NBA is one of the most difficult to achieve career choices. The chance of a college basketball player making it to the league is about 0.03%. But when a player does get to the league, their team pays them handsome salaries. Salaries that are ridiculously high.
And if by an even rarer chance you become the franchise's leading player, you are paid sums that could put movie stars to shame. Such players earn even more money through endorsements and off-court jobs. The point being, education for NBA players almost always takes a back seat. Almost always being the key word for in any paradigm, there are always outliers.
NBA player with a doctorate degree
World-renowned and the league's beloved Shaquille O'Neal is one such outlier. In fact, he is the only one in the league's past or present to hold a legitimate doctorate degree. Of course, Dikembe Motumbo has two doctorates from Georgetown and Haverford but they are both honorary and not educational achievements.
In favor of being drafted into the NBA after attending LSU for three years, Shaq promised his parents and himself that he would earn his bachelor's degree. In 2000, O'Neal would fulfill his promise to his parents by earning a bachelor of arts degree. One of the firsts in his entanglement with the desire to educate himself.
Shaquille would go on to earn a master's degree in business from the University of Phoenix and then earn a doctorate in business from Barry University. Although not a Ph.D., O'Neal received a doctorate in education (Ed.D.) in Human Resource Development. Shaq's dissertation was on the topic "The Duality of Humor and Aggression in Leadership Styles."
Once a basketball star, Shaquille O'Neal was "the" most dominant player in the paint. His aggression and strength would force the NBA to change the material and structure used in building the rim along with zone rules.
He won three rings with the LA Lakers, a prestigious three-peat, and one with the Miami Heat, taking his total championship win to four. Shaq is considered one of the greatest centers in the history of the NBA. But his love for education and his doctorate truly make him unique even amongst the greats in the game of basketball.
Guess the Lakers players!
