Before he was Michael Jordan’s opponent, Shaquille O’Neal grew up idolizing him. Jordan was eight seasons and a title in when Shaq arrived in the league. The Orlando Magic rookie established himself as dominant and indefensible right away. But he was a little softer in his first matchup against his idol. His Airness was having none of that. In the middle of a game, Jordan gave Shaq some cold advice that shaped the Big Aristotle for the rest of his career.

When Shaq stopped by The Tonight Show this week, Jimmy Fallon took him on a trip down memory lane with a series of pictures. One of them was when Shaq and MJ met at the rim. O’Neal had a vivid recollection of that game.

He told Fallon, “In high school, like everybody else, I had his posters up on my wall, so he was like a god to me. I was terrified of being out there in front of Michael Jordan first time.” Referencing that still image, Shaq said he blocked Jordan’s shot and hard-fouled him. At that moment, Shaq realized, “Okay, he’s human. I can compete, I’m not there yet, but one day I’m gonna be at the status of Michael Jordan.”

Jordan himself helped him learn a lesson that day. After doing a flagrant foul on his idol, a young O’Neal was extremely sorry. “I was like, ‘Oh, Mr. Jordan, I’m sorry about that,” and he offered Jordan a hand to get up. MJ would tell Shaq, “Don’t ever help anybody up,” get up on his own and continue the game.

Previously, Shaq recalled this story with Jordan even telling him it was “Great foul.” O’Neal was hesitant to rough up his idol. But Michael Jordan provoked him by attempting to dunk on him a few times. It triggered the flagrant foul and shaped Shaq’s entire career.

When Shaq no longer feared Michael Jordan

Shaquille O’Neal has candidly admitted several times he was terrified of the Black Cat. He said on Impaulsive in 2022, “He is the only man that had me terrified on the court ’cause I went from high school, admiring him, college, admiring him, and then he is right there in front of you and all the s*t you see on your poster, he is doing it in real life. He came by me so fast sometimes, I was like, ‘Oh, s*t.’ Yeah, I was terrified.”

But the cold lesson Jordan gave him in the first matchup was a turning point. O’Neal realized that his idol and god is a human he can foul and dunk over. As Jordan told him, the Big Aristotle took no prisoners on the court.

Within his first three years, Shaq was the backboard-breaking dominant big guy who needed to be double-teamed. When Jordan returned from retirement in 1995, O’Neal was the one who intimidated him. He had a foot over 6’6″ Jordan and “The biggest player I’ve ever seen, in terms of physicality. He was this big, massive guy when I came back from baseball, so I was somewhat intimidated.”

When he returned from retirement, Shaq and MJ faced off in the Eastern Conference Semi Finals again. O’Neal was dominant this time and won the series. To date, his proudest achievement was being the last team to beat the Jordan-led Bulls in the playoffs. Funny how realizing Jordan is human can do that.