Getty Image / Stephen Dunn / Staff
LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 7: Shaquille O'Neal #32 of the Los Angeles Lakers slams home a basket over Greg Ostertag #00 of the Utah Jazz on December 7, 2003 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
What do you collect? Baseball cards? Coins? Toenail clippings? Student debt? Boogers? Well, whatever you collect probably pales in comparison to Shaquille O’Neal’s collection. The former NBA legend collects broken basketball rims that he has tore down. On Saturday, Shaq shared a photo on his Instagram of this magnificent work of art.
Shaq calls it the “broken rim tree,” because what else would Shaq possibly call it? The art piece is actually called the “Orange Tree,” and was created by Cuban artist Alexandre Arrechea. During his college career at LSU and his illustrious NBA career which spanned from 1992 to 2011, The Big Aristotle allegedly ripped down 19 basketball rims. Not all of these rims were from actual games, but from practices and even the time he tore down a backboard during an interview with Ahmad Rashad (What the hell ever happened to Ahmad Rashad?). To refresh your memory, here is a backboard-breaking compilation of all of the documented cases of Shaquille O’Neal tearing down rims.