There have always been some fascinating players who simply achieved a lot in their careers. If we talk about one of those players, it was Shaquille O’Neal. He was quite a fantastic player who also inspired the youth to play basketball and keep moving forward. Not only that, but many pursued basketball as their professional career just because of the inspiration from the great player Shaquille O’Neal. While he has earned much respect from the basketball community, the real question is, how many rings does shaq have? This simply means that how many NBA championships he has won could verify his achievements.
Shaquille O’Neal has won 4 NBA rings throughout his career. All of these rings were won in different years that too, with different teams. Shaquille O’Neal has always performed relatively well in NBA championships, and he was able to secure four rings on his name until the end of his career.
As you might now know, the number of rings Shaquille O’Neal has. But do you precisely know in which years did he win those rings, and what were the teams that he won the rings with? Well, don’t worry; we are going to dive deep down into the details so that we can fetch every single thing about him.
Also Read: Lebron James Rings
How many times has Shaquille O’Neal played in finals?
We all know that there can be uncertain times when a team could not perform, or even the best players could not pull out their best. In those cases, they usually lose the final. But reaching the final itself an achievement and can tell about a player that how good he was. If we talk about Shaquille O’Neal, he has played 6 NBA finals. Yes, you read that right.
Out of those six finals, he won 4 of them. So isn’t that actually pretty amazing? It is undoubtedly an excellent record to win four out of 6 finals that too of the biggest basketball tournament. Now you can evaluate yourself how big of a role Shaquille O’Neal played when he was drafted in different teams.
For how many teams did Shaquille O’Neal Played?
Shaquille O’Neal might be one of the very few players who changed their teams a lot. He has actually played for six teams in his entire career. It is definitely not a usual act for any player as changing six teams requires courage and the skills to make you comfortable in every environment. If you are wondering what those teams were, then they were:
- Orlando Magic
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Miami Heat
- Phoenix Suns
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Boston Celtics
These are the six teams that Shaquille O’Neal played with. Just so you know, the career of Shaquille O’Neal was not short. He played for almost two decades and showed the world how good he could actually be. To be precise, he played for 19 years. His career in basketball started in 1992, and it came to an end with Boston Celtics in 2011.
Biography of Shaquille O’Neal
Before we proceed further and check in which years did Shaquille O’Neal won the rings and with which teams, it is better that you check out some crazy information about him!
| Name | Shaquille O’Neal |
| Date of Birth | 6th March 1972 |
| Spouse | Shaunie O’Neal |
| Children | 6 |
| Career started in | 1992 |
| Career ended in | 2011 |
| Position | Center |
| Number of teams played with | 6 |
| The number of NBA finals reached | 6 |
| Number of finals and rings won | 4 |
So these are some of the common facts about Shaquille O’Neal that you should be aware of. If he is your ideal, then you must go through them to understand some critical things about him.
In which years and with which teams, Shaquille O’Neal won the rings?
Well, we are finally here to see in which years and with which teams Shaquille O’Neal won the NBA rings.
1. The first ring!
The first ring that Shaq won in his career was in 2000. It was the 1999-2000 season, and he won his first-ever NBA ring and entered himself in the list of elites. The team that he was playing with at that time was LA Lakers. Do note that LA Lakers was not an easy opponent at that time, and they as a team exterminated several opponents without any problems. So the thing to clear out here is that LA Lakers has different great players who made it possible for the team to win the NBA championship. That is where the real journey for Shaquille O’Neal started.
2- The Second ring!
The teams that win back-to-back tournaments are definitely considered as one of the best teams in the world. At the start of the actual 20th century, a similar thing happened as LA Lakers won a back-to-back NBA championship. The first one in their streak that they won was in the 1999-2000 season. And then they won the second NBA championship in the 2000-2001 season. This is also the season Shaquille O’Neal got his hands on his second NBA ring, that too with LA Lakers.
3- The Third ring!
Winning two league titles back-to-back is definitely a worthy achievement, but LA Lakers had different plans at the start of the 20th century. They won their third consecutive NBA championship in the 2001-2002 season, and they amazed the whole world and told it that they could literally do anything. It was the third ring for Shaquille O’Neal, too, and he was now considered as one of the best players ever to exist. This streak of three also gave him confidence, and he furnished his skills even more. But unfortunately, his career at LA Lakers was already over, and his destiny had other plans for him than is why he left!
4- The Fourth ring!
The last and the fourth ring that Shaquille O’Neal won was unfortunately not with LA Lakers. He won his fourth ring with Miami Heat that too after a couple of years after winning the third. It was the 2005-2006 season in which Miami Heat beat Dallas Mavericks in the final to secure the NBA title. Many fans of Shaquille O’Neal were definitely fierce as his streak of three rings was broken. But even without LA Lakers, he managed to win his fourth, and he also told the world that he could do it with different teams too.
Who was the main player alongside Shaquille O’Neal to play in LA Lakers?
There was another great player who played alongside Shaquille O’Neal when he was playing in LA Lakers. That player was Kobe Bryant, who is unfortunately not with us anymore. Kobe Bryant was also one of the best players of that generation, and he helped LA Lakers to win the tournaments with his skills. Not only that, but he was also one of the reasons why the LA Lakers won three consecutive NBA titles. Later on, there were some misconceptions between Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and some say that it was the actual reason why Shaq left the team.
What are some other outstanding achievements of Shaquille O’Neal?
Shaquille O’Neal has unquestionably won 4 NBA rings, but do you know how many MVPs did he get in all the NBA finals he played in? He got 3 NBA Finals MVPs, and it certainly proves that he was the main and the best player in most of the finals he played. It is definitely an outstanding achievement for any player to get MVP that too in a final as it states that no other player was better than him that day.
Aside from that, as I stated earlier, the career of Shaquille O’Neal is based on 19 years of his life. Out of those 19 years, Shaq won 15 NBA All-Star awards, which is just unbelievable. There were only four seasons when he could not win the NBA All-Star award; other than that, he did pretty great in the remaining 15.
Shaquille O’Neal did not achieve great things in his professional career, but he also won different awards in his rookie years. That is where all the things started, and then he got drafted in 1991.
What are the average points per game of Shaquille O’Neal?
While there are many different things that decide if a player is good or not, the average points scored per game is another method to evaluate the skills. Shaquille O’Neal ended his career with 23.7 points scored in a game. Reaching these limits definitely seems impossible to most of the basketball players, but Shaq managed to keep the average every season.
There were some seasons when he performed extraordinarily well, and there were some seasons when he could not perform according to his standards. That was the reason his average fluctuated and stopped at 23.7.
The Final Verdict
If we take an overall look at the career of Shaquille O’Neal, we will definitely consider it as a great one. He has won his team countless matches, he got MVPs, and he won NBA rings and did almost everything a great player would achieve. That is why many people from all over the world love him and his basketball career.
I have been playing basketball for more than a decade now, and my passion and enthusiasm for it drove me to write about it. I am Ahmed, a professional basketball player and a fan who has now become a writer to help fellow basketball players and enthusiasts to opt for the best possible basketball accessories and essentials. Stay tuned to feast yourself with the content you might not have seen anywhere else.