No player was fiercer, more impactful, and more dominant during his prime years than Shaquille O'Neal . With his laundry list of accolades and the numerous memorable moments he delivered, it is astounding that he may have been deprived of one award.
Despite being so dominant, he managed to win just one MVP honor in his 19-year NBA career. If you were to believe 'The Big Aristotle,' the blame falls on Steve Nash 's shoulders, who robbed not just him but even Kobe Bryant of the same honor, in his view.
Shaq's cheeky dig at Nash
The 2004-05 season saw Nash move from the Dallas Mavericks to the Phoenix Suns and have an immediate effect. He transformed the franchise's fate from a 29-53 record in the '03-04 campaign to 62 wins in his debut season.
As the media hyped his arrival and impact, Nash's league-leading 11.5 assists per game and scoring average of 15.5 points looked even more impressive, overlooking the fact that Amar'e Stoudamire led the team in scoring with an average of 26 points per game in the '04-05 season.
Concurrently, Shaq, having been traded from the LA Lakers to the Miami Heat in the same season, also had a mighty impact on his team. He helped them win 17 more games than their previous campaign while averaging 22.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Big Diesel also led the league in field goal percentage.
So, as the MVP race became a tight contest, Nash edged past O'Neal with 65 first-place votes to the latter's 58. While this news was hard to digest for the 7'1" center at the time, even years later, he couldn't fathom that Steve had more MVP honors than him and Kobe Bryant.
"It was this Little, good-looking, David Beckham little guy running around like a Gnat. Just passing the ball... he scored every now and then, but he would beat me out in the MVP voting," Shaq said . "He got two, I got one, Kobe got one, something wrong with that."
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Did he rob Kobe of an MVP honor as well?
If Nash's 2005 MVP win was surprising, his 2006 MVP award was even more controversial. Even though he improved his scoring average to 18.8 points and led the league in assists again, his tally dropped to 10.5 per game. The Suns also won 8 fewer games in the '05-06 season than the previous year.
Meanwhile, Kobe led the league in scoring with 35.4 points per game. LeBron James also had a strong case, averaging 31.4 points per game with more blocks and rebounds than both Kobe and Nash. Yet, when the votes came in, Nash won the MVP with 57 first-place votes.
So, while Nash's MVP honors might be controversial, O'Neal has to always live with the fact that both he and the Black Mamba have fewer MVP acknowledgments than the 6'3" point guard. Still, given that they won multiple championships compared to none that the Canadian guard won, he'll find a way to "live" with that.
Related: "One day people are going to fear you taking the last shot" - Shaq's message to young Kobe Bryant after his air-ball party vs. Utah
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