“I apologized to the Big Three but not anyone else” – Shaquille O’Neal on missing a Boston Celtics practice in 2010 originally appeared on Basketball Network.
By the time Shaquille O’Neal joined the Boston Celtics in 2010, he’d been around the NBA block long enough to know one truth: every player matters — whether you’re at the end of the bench or the franchise’s cornerstone.
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But when Diesel arrived late to practice that season, he broke that rule. Although he admitted his mistake, his apology wasn’t complete. O’Neal told the media he only apologized to the team’s three superstars — Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen — leaving out the rest of the roster.
“I apologized to the Big Three but not anyone else,” said the big man icon, per ESPN.
Shaq’s no-show at practice
NBA fans know Diesel wasn’t always the hardest worker. While his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant built a reputation as a relentless gym rat, O’Neal often stood at the opposite end of the spectrum.
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This frequently raised questions about his fitness and weight. However, when the 2000 MVP missed that Celtics practice, he insisted it wasn’t laziness — just a “miscommunication.”
As usual, Boston’s locker room whiteboard had shown the schedule for the coming days: after beating the Toronto Raptors on Friday, the team had Thanksgiving weekend off, with practice planned Monday before flying to Cleveland for Tuesday’s game. Shaq, however, saw something different on the board.
“The only thing I saw was flight at 3,” he pointed out. “That’s all. I never miss practice.”
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Then-Celtics head coach Doc Rivers backed his veteran player up, stating, “When a guy doesn’t have a history or something, it happens.”
Still, Shaq’s practice attendance record isn’t spotless, to say the least.
In April 2002, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson fined O’Neal — reportedly still upset from a previous ejection — because he skipped practice.
Another time, the 1993 Rookie of the Year missed practice for the birth of his daughter. It was certainly a valid reason, yet the team wasn’t properly informed.
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The Big Three’s grip
The Big Aristotle skipping that Celtics practice didn’t spark major drama — coach Rivers publicly downplayed it, calling it a simple mistake — but beneath the surface, it spoke volumes about the inner dynamics of the 2010–11 Boston team.
More specifically, it underscored just how much influence the Celtics’ Big Three still held in that locker room. After leading the franchise to its first championship in over two decades back in 2008, the presence of Garnett, Pierce and Allen remained vital.
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Yes, at that time, age and mileage had started to show for each of them — but their authority hadn’t faded in the slightest.
The fact that Shaq, when asked about his misstep, said he didn’t address the full roster but only owed an explanation to Kevin, Paul and Ray, whom he called “the generals,” said everything you needed to know. It left no doubt about who the then-38-year-old saw as the true leaders in that room — and who he didn’t.
That dynamic held firm for about a year and a half, only shifting when Ray-Ray”left for the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA offseason. The Big Ticket and The Truth followed a year later, traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a blockbuster deal.
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On the hardwood, the C’s largely managed to stay competitive without the three future Hall of Famers. But inside the locker room — especially when it came to discipline, structure and leadership — something was clearly lost.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 24, 2025, where it first appeared.