Shaquille O’Neal reveals how career change saved him from feeling lost in NBA retirement

Shaquille O’Neal has revealed that becoming a DJ and performing at live concerts saved him after he retired from the NBA. 

O’Neal has enjoyed a massively successful post-basketball career as an analyst and entrepreneur. 

However, it was his time behind a DJ booth that truly gave him that same feeling as being on the court, with his alter ego ‘DJ Diesel’. 

O’Neal retired from the NBA in 2011 after a one-year tenure with the Celtics. He did not get behind a DJ table full-time after basketball until 2017, starting with a diss track of LaVar Ball. 

‘I started DJing because it gives me the same adrenaline boost that a championship game would give me,’ O’Neal told PEOPLE. 

Now, O’Neal performs at concerts as a DJ under the moniker ‘DJ Diesel’ in front of large crowds

‘I was lost because I had planned to retire two years after I retired. So I wasn’t really prepared,’ O’Neal continued.

O’Neal was 39 when he retired from the NBA, after averaging 9.2 points per game, the lowest of his dominant NBA career. 

The 4-time NBA champion is easily one of the best centers in NBA history and displayed his prime form in spurts with the Celtics. Interest for O’Neal to continue his career would have existed. 

Yet, it’s clear his body was not the irresistible force it once was. 

‘I’ve been playing since I was 14 years old and always had that step into the arena feeling of the game. I always had that hour and a half or so. And when I stopped playing, I didn’t have that,’ O’Neal said. 

‘I went to this concert and I got the same feeling again. I was like, “You know what? I used to do this. Lemme see if I can pick it up again”‘ O’Neal continued. ‘So yeah, it’s fun, but it only lasts an hour and a half.’

‘I know a lot of people in my position don’t have anything going on, they just wake up and are lost. So the fact that I’m working, it’s a blessing,’ O’Neal  added. ‘So any job I can get, I’ll just continue to do because one day I’ll be in that position where I won’t be able to do it anymore.’