Who really likes property damage? One could understand the NBA and David Stern’s heart palpitations every time Shaquille O’Neal went for a put-back and walked away with the basket still standing intact. Especially when the threat was right there on his feet, illustrated in the big man’s silhouette itself. Right after the monstrous rookie destroyed his first backboard (in the NBA at least) the dunkman logo was born. As Reebok’s first signature basketball athlete, his sneakers had to reflect him. And nothing screams Shaq more than the silhouette of him a second from shattering a rim. His then-agent, Leonard Armato, was there when they came up with the logo to go on the Shaq Attaq. In his return to EssentiallySports, he very bluntly said the NBA thought others would get ‘ideas.’

Armato: “We actually had created the dunkman logo before he started shattering backboards… Then we created the Shaq Attaq one. And the NBA was getting a little nervous because they didn’t want people to be destructive. So they were a little cautious at marketing the Shaq Attaq aspect of what we were doing.” 

Armato brought back some nostalgia by mentioning Inside Stuff with the then-NBA draft prospect, Shaquille O’Neal. The dominant LSU player was projected as a top pick, and famous American sportscaster Ahmad Rashad caught up with him before the draft. Shaq even recently shared a glimpse of him picking the famous steel-grey suit he wore when he signed with the Orlando Magic.

Nonetheless, the episode’s famous scene was when Rashad challenged him to a 1v1 game and goofed around with him. Shaq took it personally and responded to the dunk with one of his own and brought the entire rim down while he was at it.

Armato: “He went by Ahmad and just slammed the ball and literally shattered the backboard. It completely disintegrated. He fell on his back, holding the rim in his hands. My heart just went through my chest because I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, is he gonna be injured?’ But luckily, he’s indestructible. He was fine.”

And as Armato then pointed out, he did the same thing multiple times over.

Shaq took down backboards like a house of cards

Overall, Shaq destroyed exactly a dozen rims during his NBA career of 19 seasons. Those rims are now his trophies adorning what he dubbed his ‘basketball rim tree.’ The best ‘Shaq is here’ moment was in 1993 against the New Jersey Nets, and the 7’1″ center brought down the backboard. It was cool for the spectators to witness. For the NBA, it’s another bill they didn’t like paying. So excuse them when they thought a mere dunkman logo on a shoe would inspire people to imitate the muse.

Maybe the NBA wouldn’t have been worried if they didn’t know Shaq was capable of doing that. However, the logo was designed before the 1993 heavy-duty dunk inspired by young Shaq’s penchant for on-court damage.

But Shaq proved he’s sturdier than the basketball rim. Any Shaq Attaq owners better not think they’re the same.