Watch the original commercial for the Shaqnosis from 1996, featuring Shaq talking about his quest for a championship and a somewhat controversial jab at teammate Penny Hardaway’s Lil’ Penny character. It was my good friends Corey and Jamie Salter and Authentic Brands. And I helped urge them to get Reebok because I got tired of seeing my baby pushed further and further and further away. And we're really competitive, Allen [Iverson], Todd [Krinsky], and myself—that's the team that remembers when we were on top, and everybody loves being on top. You know, we just want to come with some great designs, great technology, and we want to be consumer friendly and price friendly, price competitive. My other brand is very, very affordable, but no Reebok. We just want to, you know, compete with other guys, but we know what to do when it comes to pricing. You’ve had your own sneaker brand in the past. How do you think that experience is going to help you in such a high stakes role with Reebok?

It's been a perfect journey for me. You know, there’s truly no one more qualified for this role than me. I will oversee basketball strategy, help advise on product development, develop partnerships and players organizations. And I really want to focus on player development. And I can remember, when I came in, we had a certain type of player with a certain type of swag. It's all about the teammates; you can't win a championship without great teammates. I got point guards in the business. I got a power forward. I got a shooting guard. I'm definitely gonna have a lot of help. Everyone has a role. Even as a president, I know what my role is. I'm gonna be really focusing on player development and partnerships, and everybody's gonna play their role and have meetings, and we're going to work together as a team. I look forward to the challenge. We've seen guys like, Taurean Prince, for example, wear Allen Iverson shoes in games recently. How much would it mean for you to, like, just see a strong roster of guys finally wearing Reebok performance basketball shoes on the court again?That's gonna be my job, and I'm already on it, and I got a couple of players in mind. I haven't started the job yet, but when I get behind my desk, I will be ready to go to work.There's a lot of players in the game. It's all over the place. But I think there’s room for Reebok to re-enter and reemerge ourselves as one of the leaders of basketball footwear. Because when it all first started out, we were number one or number two—depends on who you talk to. There's a lot of players in the game, and we had a lot of influential players. There was myself, and AI, and Kemp, and Dominique. I think we'll be able to make some noise again. As a president, I know what my role is. I'm gonna be really focusing on player development and partnerships,” O’Neal tells Complex. Reebok has such an iconic history with yourself, Allen Iverson, and stars in other sports like Emmitt Smith. How are you going to leverage the history that Reebok has to help build the future? O’Neal and Reebok went on to have a successful partnership, resulting in heralded ‘90s basketball models like the Shaq Attaq and the Shaqnosis. Reebok has announced that O’Neal is to become the brand’s new president of basketball. In his new role, the Hall of Famer’s main objective will be to reignite Reebok’s presence in an already-crowded performance basketball footwear space. You've been with the brand since 1992, and now you’ve been named the president of basketball operations. Can you just speak to how important Reebok has been for your journey and what it means for you to step into such a prominent role with the brand?

Damian Lillard and Shaquille O’Neal have an ample amount of history. The former may be an All- NBA point guard for the Portland Trail Blazers while the latter is a retired Basketball Hall of Fame center and current NBA on TNT host who had stints with the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, but the two have crossed paths multiple times, ranging from 2019’s strangest rap beef to a special take on the adidas Dame 7. Now, Dame D.O.L.L.A. and Shaq Diesel have been brought together once again for a special “Damenosis” take on O’Neal’s most famous Reebok signature shoe: the Shaqnosis. The 1996 NBA All-Star Game is generally accepted as one of the greatest collections of basketball shoes ever on a pro basketball court, and the Shaqnosis was right there as one of the brightest and boldest sneaker stars of the weekend. The shoe was immortalized in the game when Shaq threw down perhaps the most vicious dunk ever in an all-star game, his monster slam on David Robinson.