Shaquille O’Neal, one of the greatest Los Angeles Lakers players of all time and perhaps the most dominant big man ever, has just added a new trophy to his huge collection.
On Sunday, he and Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry won an Academy Award for their documentary short film “The Queen of Basketball.”
The film highlights the life of Lusia Harris, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame who died earlier this year. She is considered one of the greatest women’s basketball players ever and a pioneer for females in the sport.
In college, as a member of the Delta State University Lady Statesmen, she dominated the landscape by leading her team to three consecutive national titles while being named the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) tournament MVP each time.
Harris also helped lead the United States national team to a gold medal in the 1975 FIBA World Championship and a silver medal in the Olympics the following year.
In 1977, Harris became the first woman officially drafted by an NBA team, the New Orleans Jazz, although she had no interest in trying out for the team, possibly because she was pregnant at the time.
This Oscar award also gives O’Neal another thing in common with his late partner in crime, Kobe Bryant. Bryant won an Oscar in 2018 for his animated short film “Dear Basketball.”
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