Undoubtedly, Shaquille O'Neal is one of the greatest and most influential players in NBA history. Altogether, he has won four championships, been a 15-time All-Star, 2000 NBA MVP, and 1993 Rookie of the Year, to name a few.
He did everything, but if things had been slightly different, he might have done more. Recently, O'Neal boldly stated that if he had been paired with Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady, he would have won four championships alongside both of them, according to Sports on Prime.
“If you and [Allen Iverson] teamed up, how many championships [would you guys win]?” Shaq: “Four… I could have had four with him. I could have had four with [Tracy McGrady].”
"If you and [Allen Iverson] teamed up, how many championships [would you guys win]?"
Shaq: "Four… I could have had four with him. I could have had four with [Tracy McGrady]."
(via @SportsonPrime)pic.twitter.com/r5htzYRNMf
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 22, 2025
Obviously, every basketball person knows about O'Neal and his better halves. In the 1990s, he and Penny Hardaway turned the Orlando Magic into one of the most popular teams of the decade. However, they had a falling out when O'Neal went to the Lakers in 1996. While there, O'Neal was paired with a brash high school sensation named Kobe Bryant.
Though they led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships (2000-2002), the bad blood between them boiled over. Years later, O'Neal made up with both of them.
What could have been another NBA dynasty
At the same time O'Neal was rising, so were Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady. In 1996, Iverson was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers, just as O'Neal's star was rising in Los Angeles. Along the way, Iverson became a sensation with his hip-hop-infused style and sensibilities that endeared him to many, while being loathed by others.
In 2001, the 76ers met the Lakers in the NBA Finals. The Lakers defeated Philly in five games. If Iverson and Shaq, in the prime of their careers, had teamed up, they could have won a few titles. Shaq's explosiveness and Iverson's electrifying style would have been hard to stop.
Conversely, McGrady joined the NBA in 1997 when the Toronto Raptors drafted him. If he and Shaq had teamed up, a case could be made that they could have won a few rings. Shaq's dominance, combined with McGrady's Kobe-like talent, sounds like a formidable pairing.
But all we can ask is what could have been?
