During his peak, there was no one that could guard Shaquille O’Neal one-on-one especially once he established position in the post.
O’Neal was almost always the biggest, tallest and most physical player on the court and that led to plenty of altercations with opponents who tried to guard him and get under his skin. O’Neal was no stranger to fights as he had several incidents over the course of his career.
For example, Shaq was involved in a nasty brawl with then-Chicago Bulls center Brad Miller. Miller had fouled O’Neal on an attempted shot at the rim by holding down his arms, and the Los Angeles Lakers center retaliated by throwing a full punch at Miller’s head that just barely missed.
O’Neal and Miller reunited at Game 4 between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers and the two jokingly recreated their incident, via his personal Instagram account:
This is what it’s all about. pic.twitter.com/mNupvpdn2d
— Taco Trey Kerby (@treykerby) May 27, 2025
Miller jokes that it looks like O’Neal’s punch is going to miss again, a sign that the two have been able to move past the situation and make light of it. When reviewing the brawl, Shaq looks like he barely clips Miller’s ear with his punch before players and coaches get involved to separate the two.
Had O’Neal fully connected with the punch, there’s no telling what kind of damage Miller would have sustained. If Miller had been more seriously injured, Shaq could have faced a severe suspension from the league office and that could potentially have impacted the Lakers’ title hopes.
Fortunately, though, nothing more came out of the incident and all parties have seemingly moved on. Still, it’s scary to think about what could have happened had O’Neal made contact with his swing.
Nowadays, O’Neal spends his time as an analyst on NBA on TNT as well as other media ventures. For example, he and Allen Iverson are featured in an upcoming Netflix program called “Power Moves” where they try to revitalize Reebok Basketball.
O’Neal’s fighting days on the court are over, but the photo with Miller is a reminder that he was someone that no one wanted to mess with.
Shaquille O’Neal named men’s basketball general manager at Sacramento State University
Aside from his media obligations, Shaquille O’Neal also remains in the game of basketball. Recently, O’Neal was named the men’s basketball general manager at Sacramento State University.
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