Shaquille O’Neal Shares Three Regrets From NBA Career, Including Divorce With Shaunie

No one can ever question Shaquille O’Neal’s dominance and what he delivered on the court to fans during his NBA career. While the four-time NBA champion played for six different teams in his 19-year career, O'Neal’s heyday stems back to his days with the Lakers alongside Kobe Bryant and his time in Miami with Dwyane Wade.

Despite the endless amount of success on the hardwood, the 15-time All-Star still has some regrets regarding several decisions he made in his younger years. O’Neal joined The Pivot Podcast and shared that he still has regrets about the way he handled his relationship with Penny Hardaway, his relationship with Kobe Bryant and how he handled the mistakes in his previous marriage with Shaunie.

“Other than that [three regrets] I don't really dwell on a lot,” O’Neal said on The Pivot. “I know better. … I don’t like to make excuses, but I had a lot going on. I was arrogant, I was dumb, and sometimes when you do a lot of stuff you don’t want to work at stuff.”

O’Neal and his ex-wife, Shaunie, got married in 2002, while he was playing in Los Angeles. The two have four kids: Shareef, Amirah, Shaqir and Me’arah. However, O’Neal revealed on the podcast hosted by Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor and Ryan Clark, that he was “bad” in their marriage, which led them to separate in ’07. They reconciled, but Shaunie later filed for divorce in ’09 before it became official in ’11.

“She was awesome,” the Hall of Fame big man said. “It was all me. We don’t need to talk about what I was doing, but I wasn’t protecting her and protecting those vows. Sometimes you live that double life and get caught up.

“She did exactly what she was supposed to do. Take care of the kids. Take care of the house. Take care of corporate stuff.”

While O’Neal took ownership of his mistakes in the marriage, the divorce was certainly one issue in which he had to be strong and “man up.” 

“I had the perfect situation,” O’Neal said. “Wife was finer than a mug. Kept giving me babies. … I had it all. … When that d-word happened—I don’t like to use that word—I was lost. 

“I said to myself, ‘O.K., you’re not married, but you still have to protect and provide for this family. Get your ass up, man up, let’s go. … Because I may not be a husband, but I’ll always be a father, and a father’s job is to protect, provide and love.’”

O’Neal has found countless ways to give back to children and impact communities. Despite his shortcomings in certain areas of his life, he is glad that he lived his life and did it his way.