Shaquille O’Neal, one of the most dominant basketball players to ever set foot on the court, has a very endearing personality. The 7-feet-tall giant won four NBA Championships in 19 seasons, understandably, taking a huge chunk of his time off from his family life. The 15-time All-Star had his first child back in 1996, making him swell up with emotions.

The NBA Veteran recently shared his feelings about the birth of his first child, and how it changed his life personally and professionally. O’Neal was a force to deal with on the court and the birth of his daughter Taahirah, helped him improve his demeanor professionally.

Shaquille O’Neal on how his life changed after Taahirah’s birth

Shaquille O’Neal is a family man. He likes to spend time with all six of his kids close to him. The father of six also has devoted a lot of his time to his kids’ education, making rules so that they are not lacking behind. He once famously talked about his kids’ education “In order to touch daddy’s cheese, you gotta have three degrees,” the Lakers legend had said.

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While talking on the ‘2 lies 1 truth’ podcast O’Neal described how the birth of his first child changed his life “When you are an athlete and the focus is on winning, and you get criticized, and you get mad, and you beat people up. I used to bring that stuff home, but when you have a child they don’t care about that. Especially when you have a daughter, they don’t care about that” the 15-time All-Star shared his experience. 

The four-time NBA champion also recalled the times how special his daughter was to him after she was born. He described how till the age of two she didn’t want to let go of her father and later would always want to talk to him on the phone. The 7-foot-tall behemoth on-court would melt by his daughter’s wishes. 

O’Neal’s words have a lot of truth to them as the legend achieved a lot of success since 1996, the year his daughter was born. Shaq was drafted to the Los Angeles Lakers and would go on to make history there with a 3-peat at the turn of the century.

O’Neal and his kids

The Lakers legend has six kids who he keeps very close to. His sons Shareef and Shaqir O’Neal are aspiring hoopers like their father.

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Shareef O’Neal currently plays for NBA G League Ignite after going undrafted in this year’s NBA draft.