GQ: Let's talk about Dwight. You were Superman well before Dwight Howard. Were you flattered or upset about the imitation? Shaq: I don't really think about it. GQ: No? Shaq: Not at all. You want to wear my shoes, they're big shoes to fill. Doesn't bother me. I remember when I was little I used to call myself Dr. J and my dad punched me one day and said, "You're not Dr. J. Dr. J was a hell of a player. You may become that. You may do more. But if you call yourself Dr. J you got big shoes to fill." Anyone who calls themselves me has big shoes to fill. He's only putting more pressure on himself. GQ.com
GQ: You're tough on Chris Bosh. Why? Shaq: I'm just not calling him part of the Big 3. He put up good numbers, but he wasn't leading Toronto to any number one spots, you know what I'm saying? One day I gave him 46 points and he was like "Oh, ****, Shaq cheated." That's when I called him the RuPaul of the NBA. A lot of times I'm just messing around but if he thinks I'm serious, so what?
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At the peak of your career, you looked past Nike, Reebok, and the other gigantic companies and made shoes that sold at Payless so that low-income families could afford sneakers endorsed by an NBA player. It was one of the most selfless things we've seen from an NBA player. Shaq: That's why we sold 95 million pairs. A lot of people like to talk about Mike [Jordan] but put it this way: I'm right behind him and there ain't nobody close to us. One day, a lady came up to me cursing about the high price of athlete's sneakers and I was like "Lady, I don't make the purse up." I pulled out a wad of money and was like "Here, go buy him whatever you want." She slapped the money out of my hand. That caused me to think, "You know, no big-time person has ever done something downstairs." GQ: And that's where the idea came from? That incident with the lady? Shaq: Yes. Even though they were only $29, they didn't look like they cost $29. You know how kids are. You roll up in shoes that look they cost $29... GQ: You're going to laughed out of the gym. Shaq: Right! [laughs
You got into films for a second. Everyone remembers Kazaam. When was the last time you watched it? Shaq: The other day. GQ: Did it hold up to you? Shaq: I was a medium-level juvenile delinquent from Newark who always dreamed about doing a movie. Someone said, "Hey, here's $7 million, come in and do this genie movie." What am I going to say, no? So I did it
