The reason we got taunting rules

Three-time WNBA champion Candace Parker had a witty take on the dominance that Basketball Hall-of-Famer and fellow TNT talent Shaquille O’Neal showed back in high school, which she shared in a recent social media post.

Taking to Instagram stories, Parker, who is also a two-time WNBA MVP, shared video clips of ‘Shaq’ dominating the competition when he was playing for Robert G. Cole High School in San Antonio, Texas. He was doing it in his trademark in-your-face flair.

Candace Parker highlighted it with an amusing comment, writing on the post:

“Shaq the reason we got taunting rules “

In high school, O’Neal started developing what eventually turned out to be a legendary basketball career. It all began in Germany, where his military man-stepfather was based, when he started to have a better appreciation of basketball.

When they moved to San Antonio, the then 6-foot-10 player blossomed to a rising star, helping his team to a near perfect record in two years while leading Cole High School to the state championship in his senior year.

It led him to LSU, where he played collegiate basketball and grew even more popular. He was selected first overall in the 1992 NBA Draft, becoming a four-time league champion, an MVP and many-time All-Star. He is widely considered as one of the best centers to have played the game.

He now shares his wealth of basketball knowledge, along with the likes of Candace Parker, on various NBA on TNT programs he is part of.

Candace Parker admires what Shaquille O’Neal accomplished in his career

While she occasionally takes a jab at Shaquille O’Neal, Candace Parker no doubt has a lot of respect for him as a player and what he had accomplished in his illustrious career.

She shared this in an interview with Inside the NBA last year as she announced her retirement from the game and her new role as president of Adidas’ women’s basketball division. She highlighted that the NBA legend provided a blueprint as player and career after it.

She said:

“I recently saw your podcast where you were talking about why you retired, because you felt like you weren’t ‘him’ anymore.”

Candace Parker added:

“You realize after a long time, you’ve dominated for along time, and now you can’t do it and it’s not as fun anymore, so I appreciateyou being a role model for me, not only on the court because we know what youdo, but off the court.”

Parker finished her basketball career as a highly decorated player. She was a two-time NCAA champion and a consensus collegiate basketball legend. In the WNBA, she won it all both as an individual and as part of a team, punctuated with league titles for three different teams, namely, LA Sparks, Chicago Sky and Las Vegas Aces. She was also a two-time Olympic gold medalist.

Edited by Mike Murillo