15 Years Before LeBron James’ Verbal Altercation With Ime Udoka, Shaquille O’Neal Had Expletive-Filled Confrontation With His Own Coach

LeBron James‘ verbal altercation with Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka during the Lakers win on Saturday earned him his third technical foul of the young season. On the other hand, Udoka was ejected from the game. While this confrontation was astonishing for many, this wasn’t an uncommon sight in the NBA. Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal has been a part of many brawls, but the worst one was against his own head coach in 2008, which led to disastrous scenes for the 4x NBA champion.

Shaq’s 4th championship with the Miami Heat was a sweet success for the 7-footer. After the 2006 championship, the expectations were high for the Heat but they couldn’t deliver. Shaq was at the end of his prime and injuries were turning into a huge trouble for him. After two seasons of failure, a cloud of pressure was formed around Miami. 

The frustration was evident in the team and former Miami coach Pat Riley faced most of it. Things went haywire after Shaquille O’Neal and his friend Jason Williams made it late to one practice. Although they were just 10 minutes late, Riley ordered the two to leave the practice. An annoyed Shaq replied, “Why don’t you make me?”

Though his teammates Mourning and Haslem tried to stop the altercation, Shaq decided to go “face-to-face, jaw-to-jaw” with Riley, as mentioned in his book ‘Uncut’. The 2000 MVP kept poking Riley on his chest and the two got into a serious altercation. Eventually, the practice was called off. 

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As a consequence of this brawl, Shaq was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2008 for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. While this proved to be the final nail in O’Neal’s Heat career, things had been heating up for a while.

Shaquille O’Neal already had tension with Pat Riley

After Shaq’s injury-prone body was getting troublesome for the Heat, Riley decided to arrange for rehab. However, the Lakers legend decided not to do it, despite his worrisome condition. The 51-year-old revealed in his book, “Pat told everybody I didn’t get better because I refused to do the rehab they set up for me. I stopped doing their rehab because it simply didn’t work. Miami trainer Ron Culp had me doing electrical stimulation, and it didn’t help.”

Shaq was already annoyed about this, and when the coach asked him to exit the practice, things went out of hand. Riley was one of the most respected coaches for his terrific resume and guidance. Yet, he couldn’t control Shaq in 2008. This bitter exit was much more intense than Ime Udoka’s ejection yesterday. 

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