By his high school graduation, Shaq was fully grown, standing at 7’1”. While basketball players are known for being tall, his size was intimidating even to professional players. He was about 300 pounds when he entered the NBA, but it wasn’t just his size that made him great.
During his rookie season, Shaq averaged 23.4 points and 13.9 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, the Magic missed the playoffs in a tie-break with the Indiana Pacers. He started strong, but he wasn’t a fan of the team’s head coach, Matty Guokas.