It was one of those ‘You had to be there‘ moments in ’93. In two games that season, the gigantic Orlando Magic upstart was taking down rims with a single dunk. It hasn’t been replicated since then and that rookie is now a talking head on TNT. Charles Barkley and Kenny “The Jet” Smith are the only people who can get away with saying that Shaq can’t dunk. The Big Aristotle had to prove them wrong. While he was at it, Shaquille O’Neal was very close to making a new addition to his collection of broken rims.

Another debate on Inside the NBA took an unexpected turn when Charles Barkley said, “You could dunk five years ago.” Actually, Shaq attempted and succeeded at dunking in the same studio two years ago on his 50th birthday. But for the sake of good TV, O’Neal said, “I can dunk right now.”

This just gave Kenny “The Jet” Smith the unusual motivation to goad Shaq into proving it. Chuck, the nicer BFF, was concerned about the giant’s hamstring, ACL, back, etc. But Kenny, as some commenters put it, was gaslighting O’Neal to the moon and back. It was so effective that Shaq demanded a ball from the staff; Even the suit jacket was off like a figurative representation of all gloves were off.

The 7’1″ giant, about two years removed from his hip replacement, dunked and left the backboard trembling. He got to do the “Are you not entertained” walk-off and the board barely survived.

Chief Provocateur Kenny went from saying, “He can only dunk donuts and coffee now” to giving him a standing O after that dunk. Ernie Johnson loved it. But one hater still stands in Studio J.

A basketball-themed art installation, ‘Orange Tree’ is mistakenly believed to be made of all the rims Shaquille O’Neal broke over his career. Shaq himself created that false narrative by taking a picture in front of the sculpture he claimed is his ‘Broken Rims Tree.’ Hard not to fall into that fallacy when the Big Aristotle has a history of shattering backboards.

Shaquille O’Neal silences haters on Inside the NBA

The last time an NBA backboard went down was in April 1993, when the Orlando Magic played against the Nets. A couple of months earlier, Shaq traumatized Charles Barkley when playing against the Phoenix Suns. O’Neal’s dunk was so powerful the entire rim made a slow descent to the floor. The NBA made the rims shatter-proof with Dunkman-resistant changes since then.

Over three decades later, Chuck not only had doubts about Shaq’s ability to dunk, but he was extremely concerned. Despite Kenny’s insistence to “let TV be TV,” Barkley tried to convince Shaq from hurting himself. But after that backboard-shaking dunk, Barkley claimed, “That wasn’t a dunk, that was a hard rub in.”

Going by their previous debate too, Kenny believes Orlando Magic’s Wagner Brothers would’ve blocked that shot easily and Chuck thinks that the dunk was not worthy of a replay unless it’s on ESPN Deportes. The interesting revelation in this is that Shaq doesn’t know his own age. He thought he was 50, like the last time he dunked in this studio. But he proved he’s still got it and that’s all that matters.