Five alternative NBA timelines for Shaquille O’Neal

3. What if he made the Dream Team instead of Christian Laettner?

Christian Laettner was the collegiate player chosen to play on the 1992 Dream Team in the Barcelona Games over O’Neal and Mourning. The top three picks in the 1992 NBA Draft were exactly what Dream Team head coach Chuck Daly wanted to round out his 12-man roster: a strong collegiate big man to grow and learn from 11 future NBA Hall of Famers.

Laettner didn’t fit in with the likes of Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Patrick Ewing. He remains the only player on that squad to have not made it to Springfield for his accomplishments as an individual player. Laettner was elite at Duke but slightly better than average in the NBA.

Now, what if O’Neal made the 1992 Dream Team roster instead of Laettner? How would that have changed things for O’Neal’s NBA career? Here are two things that could have happened had O’Neal played on the Dream Team:

1.) He wouldn’t have wanted to play in small market Orlando for any stretch of his NBA career.

2.) He might have been able to rectify his woes at the free throw line before his rookie season.

Getting to play with star players in his early 20s would have made O’Neal reluctant to play in a small market. He may have forced a trade with the Magic to somewhere like Boston, New York, or Los Angeles after his first Olympic experience.

Could being on 1992 Dream Team have helped his free throw shooting? O’Neal would have been young enough to break his bad habits at the line. His mentors at Barcelona might have been Ewing, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, and Karl Malone.

All four Hall of Famers were excellent free throw shooters during their playing careers. One of them may have found a simple flaw in Shaq’s shooting mechanics to make him a 75 percent shooter in his career. If Shaq were a 75 percent free throw shooter, he easily eclipses 30,000 career points.

Next: 2. What if the Lakers picked him over Kobe Bryant?