.jpg)
At the peak of his powers, Shaquille O'Neal was one of the most dominant players in basketball history.
But as 'Big Diesel' approached the end of his career, the 7ft 1ins centre looks a shadow of his previous best.
Shaq initially entered the NBA in 1992, selected by the Orlando Magic with the first overall pick of that year's draft.
Advert
After being a standout prospect in college with Louisiana State University, the towering big man quickly shot to stardom at the professional level, named Rookie of the Year at the end of his debut season.
In 1996, he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in what was at the time the biggest free-agent deal in the history of the game.
And O'Neal proved to be money well spent for the Lakers. Teaming up with Kobe Bryant, he helped fire the LA to three successive NBA championships between 2000 and 2002.
Advert
At the end of the 1999-2000 season, he was named the league's Most Valuable Player and he would go on to accumulate 15 All-Star selections.
After moving to the Miami Heat in 2004, O'Neal added another title two years later, this time linking up with Dwyane Wade to fire the Floridian franchise to a first-ever championship.
But after that fourth title, O'Neal's career began to wind down. He moved to the Phoenix Suns in 2008 before spending one season with LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009.
The final stop of his illustrious career saw Shaq spend a single campaign with the Boston Celtics in 2010-11.
And footage of O'Neal's last-ever game for Boston has resurfaced, showing how much the once-dominant centre had declined.
Advert
After averaging 23.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game across his 19 years in the NBA, O'Neal mustered zero points in his final outing, a three-minute cameo that saw the former MVP fail to attempt a shot as the Celtics lost Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals to LeBron and the Heat.
O'Neal didn't even play in the following game as Boston crashed out, losing the best-of-seven series 4-1.
Topics: NBA, Shaquille ONeal, Basketball
Ryan Baldi