Shaquille O’Neal admits it’s a myth that women line up at hotels to get with NBA players: “I was looking for that, but it never happened”

Shaquille O’Neal admits it’s a myth that women line up at hotels to get with NBA players: “I was looking for that, but it never happened” originally appeared on Basketball Network.

The life of an NBA player is anything but ordinary. With the staggering salaries earned by some of the league’s biggest stars and the significant downtime between games, it’s no wonder these professional athletes often attract considerable attention from women.

Contrary to the widely held belief from the early days of the league — that women would gather in hotel lobbies hoping to meet NBA players — legendary big man Shaquille O’Neal has debunked this notion, calling it nothing more than a myth.

On his podcast, the Hall of Famer revealed that he first encountered this rumor before being selected as the first overall pick in the 1992 NBA Draft. However, it didn’t take long for him to realize it was nothing more than an exaggerated myth.

Shaq didn’t see anyone

Great wealth and fame often come with significant challenges. One such challenge is handling groupies eager to spend a night out with a professional player, whether it’s a megastar like Shaq or the team’s final benchwarmer.

O’Neal, though, debunked the myth, asserting that in all his years in the league, he didn’t see any throngs of women lining up outside the team’s hotel doors.

“That’s a myth,” the 2000 league MVP emphasized. “I’ve been in a lot of lobbies — I didn’t see anybody. So I remember I was coming in; they did this Esquire article about how the girls would be waiting out. So I was looking for that. Never happened. Never happened. Trust me, I was in the battles on the road. It never happened.”

He added that if any player wanted to see a woman on any given night, they had to go out and do the work themselves.

“You go and you see people,” “The Big Aristotle” disclosed.

It was tough to be in a relationship

Speaking from his experiences, O’Neal said getting into serious relationships was tough, especially when his playing career stopped, since he was used to a specific lifestyle.

“The problem with us is when you live a certain lifestyle, and then it all shuts down, you only know what you know. So, if you don’t know the rules of commitment, it’ll never work. And then, you know, us being not committed, everything is an excuse. Because once you say to somebody, ‘I’m going to commit,’ you’ve got to do your job as a man. Right?” Shaq expounded, referring to being faithful and devoted in a relationship.

“Once I say, ‘You’re my girlfriend,’ do your job as a man. Everything else is an excuse. All that — there is so much into that. Once I say I commit to you, I’m supposed to do that as a man. I didn’t do that. That’s why all mine always failed,” he continued.

“Big Aristotle” admitted he struggled with accountability once the game stopped and the distractions faded, exposing how little he understood about real emotional responsibility.

“But if you live a tiger lifestyle and then you try to become a tame tiger — it ain’t going to work. It’s not going to work. So, you know, there’s a reason why the divorce rate is high. Because we live a — and not all of us — but like, you know, we live a certain lifestyle. And a lot comes with it. And then when that’s all stopping, and you trying to go out and look for that, if you don’t understand their rules and understand their laws — it’ll never work,” Shaq concluded.

Shaq knows what he’s talking about. He was married to Shaunie Nelson for nine years before getting divorced in 2011, a development he claimed as the biggest mistake of his life.