Shaquille O'Neal, nicknamed "Shaq", "Superman", "Diesel" and "The Big Aristotle" is one of the NBA's most famous basketball players listed in the top 50 all time greatest list and ranked #9 in SLAM Magazine's Top 75 NBA Players of all time. He's big ...really big...towering over 7"1 and weighing in excess of 300lbs he's one of the most dominant centers in NBA history. He's also worked off court in films like Blue Chips and Kazaam, has released several rap CDs and is aiming to get a master's degree in criminal justice after his pro basketball career. There's much more to this giant with size 21 feet than meets they eye!

He was born 6th March 1972 in Newark, New Jersey to Joseph Toney (his biological father who he has had little contact with) and Lucille O'Neal. After his mother remarried Shaq spent some of his childhood in Germany in Wildflecken, Bavaria, where his stepfather Harrison was stationed with the U.S. Army.

It was in Germany that he first began to play Basketball but it wouldn't be until he was back in America that the sport would become serious for him. It was then that he would start taking the steps that would eventually lead to him carving his own historical Basketball path out through Louisiana State University, Orlando Magic, The La Lakers and finally Miami Heat where he still plays.

His big break came when he left Louisiana State University for the NBA after three years in 1992. He first stop was Orlando Magic where he had an exceptional rookie season, helping the Magics win 20 more games than the previous season. He was named 1993 rookie of the year and averaged a substantial 23.4 points and 13.9 rebounds.

In his Sophmore season he improved upon his rookie statistics averaging 29.3 points and was voted into his second All-Star game but he was hounded by injuries in the 1995 - 1996 season missing a total of 28 games. Now a free agent speculation arose as to the direction he would take. He'd spent a lot of time in Los Angeles during the off-seasons and had also had notable successes in rap music and film making.

Basketball won the day though and he took advantage of his free agent status and moved to The La Lakers where he would form an electric and one of the most talked about partnerships in the history of the sport with up and coming superstar Kobe Bryant. This partnership would, however, take two to three years to mature during which injury still plagued O'Neals game and cohesion was lacking in The Lakers make-up.

It was in 1999 when Phil Jackson was hired as Head Coach that things really began to come together and Shaq and Kobe led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Despite the oncourt success of the partnership two such significant players inevitably battled for leadership in what would eventually hail the demise of The Lakers from their prestigious position, the collapse of the partnership between Bryant and O'Neal and the eventual transfer of O'Neal after the Lakers failed to provide him with an extension on his contract that he felt he deserved.

When all the talking was done, his next stop materialized as been Miami Heat who traded Caron Butler, Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and a first-round draft choice for him in July 2004. His future at Miami was confirmed in 2005 as he extended his contract for five more years to the tune of $100 million dollars. Both player and team seem happy and O'Neal continues to prove his worth season after season recording his second career triple-double against the Toronto Raptors with 15 points, 11 rebounds and a career high 10 assists in April 2006.