Shaquille O’Neal unofficially destroyed 12.5 rims during his career with two incidents taking place in the NBA
Shaquille O’Neal was a force of nature during his NBA career during which he played himself into the record books. One question many people ask is, how many backboards did O’Neal break during his career? Different sources give you different answers with some saying 12.5 and some saying 19.
O’Neal himself claimed that he’d broken 19 backboards during his NBA career but it hasn’t been confirmed. Shaquille O’Neal damaged 2 NBA backboards during official NBA games.
O’Neal damaged the entire backboard structure during games against the Phoenix Suns and New Jersey Nets. Shaquille O’Neal dunked so hard in the game against the Suns that the entire backboard and hoop collapsed downward. During the game against the Nets, however, the damage was far worse.
O’Neal rocked up to the rim and slammed home a contested dunk that separated the backboard and shot clock from the rest of the hoop. The NBA changed the material and structure of the backboards because of O’Neal’s destructive dunks. The NBA hasn’t seen a player that breaks backboards the way Shaquille O’Neal once did.
What is the Broken Rim Tree?
The Broken Rim Tree is an art installation that Shaquille O’Neal had made in memory of all the backboards he broke. The art piece is a set of basketball rims looked like the branches of a tree.
The Broken Rim Tree has 19 rims in total. Shaquille O’Neal has showed that it refers to the number of rims he’s broken during his basketball career. Some believe that it’s a reference to the different phases of O’Neal’s 19-year NBA career but this has not been confirmed.
It makes sense that Shaquille O’Neal had the Broken Rim Tree created. The art piece immortalizes O’Neal and highlights an aspect of his game that defined him.
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