Shaquille O'Neal revealed some of his motivation techniques during his playing days. Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Shaquille O’Neal made up rumor about David Robinson for motivation

By Zac Wassink | Last updated May 18, 2020 2:09 PM ET

One of the more humorous tales from "The Last Dance" involved Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan creating a fictional story about former Washington Bullets guard LaBradford Smith just so MJ could motivate himself to avenge what was, for the six-time champion, an off evening.

It appears Jordan wasn't the only player to use such tactics.

Ahead of the debuts of the final two episodes of the ESPN docuseries on Sunday evening, Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal and David Robinson participated in a Zoom conference call that featured a handful of noteworthy players from the 1990s.

During the call, Shaq confessed he once made up a story that The Admiral didn't sign an autograph for him when The Diesel was 13 years old.

Shaq made up a rumor that David Robinson didn't sign an autograph for him as a kid...

He used it as motivation when he played against him

(via @NBA)pic.twitter.com/U9wamqlUpa
— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) May 18, 2020

"The first couple of years (in the NBA), (Robinson) use to kill me," Shaq explained. "So I made up a rumor so I could get mad."

Robinson added that he got O'Neal to come clean when the two were on the United States basketball team that won gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

We'd like to know who else was on Shaq's "list" during the heights of his career.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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