Shaquille O’Neal won four NBA championships during his legendary career — three with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Miami Heat. All four came with parades, rings, and history attached.
But now, nearly 20 years after his final title, Shaq has made it clear: one championship stands above the rest.
And surprisingly, it’s the one he won in Miami.
This week, the Heat reunited their 2006 championship team for a two-day, 20th anniversary celebration, complete with a gala and an on-court ceremony during Miami’s home game against Atlanta. Most of the roster was in attendance, including O’Neal, who offered a candid and revealing explanation of why that title meant the most to him.
“I’m going to throw a word out there that’s probably going to shock the basketball world,” Shaq said. “It’s my favorite one because we were not supposed to win — and it was one that I was pressured to win.”
The pressure, Shaq admitted, came from wanting to win a championship without Kobe Bryant.
O’Neal and Bryant famously won three titles together with the Lakers before their relationship deteriorated, leading to Shaq’s trade to Miami in 2004. At the time, the basketball world was watching closely to see which superstar would win first after the breakup.
“I needed to get it done before the other guy got his fourth,” Shaq said.
That “other guy,” of course, was Kobe.
Bryant eventually went on to win his fourth and fifth championships, surpassing Shaq, and the two rivals eventually reconciled before Kobe’s tragic passing in 2020. But back in 2006, the competition — and the pressure — was very real.
The Heat weren’t viewed as a sure thing either.
“We were a bunch of misfits,” Shaq recalled. “We used to argue and fight and do things very untraditionally.”
In fact, Shaq estimated the team had around 40 internal arguments during the season — all intense, all short-lived.
“But we never not got along,” he added. “That’s what made it special.”
That chemistry was tested early in the NBA Finals when Miami dropped the first two games to the Dallas Mavericks. Shaq didn’t panic — and neither did his teammates.
After Game 2, veteran guard Gary Payton famously let Shaq have it, insisting that Dwyane Wade needed the ball more if Miami wanted a chance.
Payton even went directly to coach Pat Riley to push for changes.
The result? Wade took over the series, dominating the next four games. Payton hit a crucial shot in Game 3. Miami won the Finals in six games and captured the first championship in franchise history.
“It was all worth it,” Shaq said.
Pat Riley later summed it up best, praising the team’s tight eight-man rotation and the daily battles that sharpened them.
For Shaq, that title became his favorite — his final ring, earned under pressure, against the odds, and on his own terms.
And fittingly, for Dwyane Wade, that same championship was his favorite too — the first moment he proved to himself that he could lead a team all the way.
Sometimes, the ring that means the most isn’t the easiest one — it’s the one you had to fight for.