Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal names the most underrated player he ever faced in the NBA

For 19 seasons, Shaquille O’Neal was one of the most dominant centers in the NBA. He played for six teams during his professional career, but his prime years came with the Los Angeles Lakers between the late 1990s and early 2000s. That experience gave him deep insight into the game—and into his toughest opponents. Among them, he named the most underrated.

“Underrated is Hakeem Olajuwon,” Shaq said on The Big Podcast in April 2025. “He don’t get the credit he should. You always talk about these great big men, and I love that my name is brought up… You gotta put him in there, he was an animal.”

Between O’Neal’s debut in 1992 and Olajuwon’s retirement at age 39 in 2002, the two shared a full decade in the league. That gave Shaquille plenty of opportunities to face the Houston Rockets legend. “He was the only guy that I really couldn’t check,” the three-time champion with the Lakers admitted. “I really couldn’t understand him. So, he was underrated because he didn’t get a lot of props.”

In a 2022 interview with The Ringer, Shaq also emphasized another side of Hakeem. “He was just a nice guy, and when I really respect you, I’m never going to talk trash to you or do anything,” the former center said. “But I tried talking to him and he didn’t respond, so that kind of let me know that he had me.”

O’Neal then explained how Olajuwon differed from other stars in that regard: “I knew that if I said something to the Georgetown boys, they’d get pissed. I knew David Robinson would get all military on me. With Hakeem, I’d elbow him and he’d go, ‘Nice elbow, brotha.'”

How did Shaq fare against Olajuwon?

During the 10 years they overlapped in the NBA, O’Neal and Olajuwon squared off 20 times in the regular season. In those matchups, Shaquille held the edge, with 14 wins and just six losses. But the postseason told a different story: they met eight times in the playoffs, with Olajuwon holding a 5–3 advantage.

Their most memorable clash came in 1995, when the Houston Rockets reached the NBA Finals for the second straight year and faced the Orlando Magic. Olajuwon led his team to another championship, sweeping Shaq’s team in four games.

O’Neal reflects on the 1995 NBA Finals

That 1994–95 season marked just the second time Shaq reached the postseason as a pro. And in that Finals series, he learned a valuable lesson from Olajuwon. “Hakeem was way better than me, but he never did to me in the regular season what he did in the Finals,” O’Neal said during an episode of The OG’s Podcast.

“So, I learned that when you get to that level, you’ve got to step it up a notch—I didn’t know that at the time,” reflected the four-time NBA champion. “So now, I’m saying to myself, ‘If I ever get back to the Finals again, I’ve got to dominate.’ Especially if I’m not shooting free throws well—I’ve got to have such a dominant performance that it won’t even matter.”