"Thank You Mama O'Neal for Raising Shaq Right!": Kevin Garnett on How Shaquille O’Neal's ‘Mean Trait’ Wasn’t Visible to All
Isabella Ramos
Published Apr 10, 2026
15x NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett talked to Matt Barnes about Shaquille O’Neal, thanked his lucky stars Shaq was raised right
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Drafted in 1992, Shaquille O’Neal came into the league as a 7’1″, 300 lbs, 20-year-old. The big man came with the mindset that he had to assert his dominance and make the league feel his strength. The Diesel did not fail. After his 19-year NBA career, Shaq is regarded as one of the, if not the, most dominant players in league history.
Every team in the NBA tried their hand at stopping the big man, but there was no way to do so. Gregg Popovich came up with ‘Hack-A-Shaq,’ the only method effective enough to slow him down. However, even this strategy only worked to a certain extent.
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Players who played against Shaq often talk about how tough it was to have the Diesel as an opponent. Kevin Garnett once gave a similar account, when he joined Matt Barnes on All The Smoke podcast.
Kevin Garnett thanks Lucille O’Neal for raising Shaquille O’Neal right
Shaq was a bully on the court, all thanks to his size. However, he was never too mean on the court. Kevin Garnett was drafted in 1995 and played for 21 seasons. He matched up against Shaq several times, including the 2004 Western Conference Finals. However, since Shaq joined the Heat, their matchups became less frequent. In his final NBA season, Shaq played alongside Garnett in Boston.
Talking about Shaq, KG said,
“Shaq could have been a lot more mean than he was. Thank god Shaq was raised right! Yall haven’t played against a pissed-off Shaq. Shaq getting pissed – whaaa?… Thank you Mama O’Neal, thank you!”
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Shaquille O’Neal was this dominant while he was being nice to people. Imagine if he unleashed the inner beast and let his mean side take over? The man would’ve run through the entire league with nobody stopping him ever.
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