Phoenix Suns

JaVale McGee says Shaquille O’Neal caused a ‘down spiral’ to his career after targeting him on ‘Shaqtin’ a Fool’

Published by
David Akerman

Phoenix Suns center JaVale McGee recently said that NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal caused a downward spiral in his career by targeting him on “Shaqtin’ A Fool.”

“The thing about that whole Shaqtin’ a Fool era of when I was on there is I didn’t realize what it was doing to my career until I started to move on to other teams,” McGee said.

 

“And I would talk to other coaches and middle of the year they’d be like, ‘I’ve always seen that Shaqtin’ A Fool stuff and had a different mental of you and I never knew like you’re a smart kid. You’re extremely vocal. You’re a great basketball player.’

 

“It was slowly chipping away at my reputation. As a young 24-year-old athletic basketball player, young, excited. It was just slowly chipping away.”

McGee explained that you can even make a video of Michael Jordan with his worst moments that could make him look like a bad player.

“You can make a lowlight of Jordan right now,” he said. “If you’ve never seen a highlight of him, you would think he was the worst player in the world. It was definitely a down spiral ever since that show aired of my career.”

McGee has worked past the “Shaqtin A Fool” days, as he’s now a three-time NBA champion.

During his 13-year career, McGee has averaged 7.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He will get a chance to make an impact with the Suns during the 2021-22 season.

David Akerman

David is a Miami native and University of Maryland graduate who has experience in writing, editing and video production. He has been following the NBA and NFL for as long as he can remember.

Published by
David Akerman

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