Shaq tells story about how he got earful from mom of Toronto Raptors legend Vince Carter

Shaquille O’Neal played against the Toronto Raptors 30 times in his Hall of Fame career, but one instance seems to stand out above all the others.

In a segment this week on TNT’s Storytime with Adam Lefkoe, the former Los Angeles Lakers star recalled a November 21, 1999, game against Toronto where a particular foul of his ended up on the evening highlights.

Then in his second NBA season, Toronto was led by a high-flying Vince Carter, who was setting the league on fire with his nightly highlight reel dunks.

Asked if Carter ever dunked on him in his career, O’Neal brought up a game in the 1999-2000 season where he rejected a Carter dunk attempt with a hard block in the third quarter that ended up sending Carter to the floor, and briefly to the locker room.

“I wasn’t trying to lay him down, I wasn’t trying to foul him, I was just trying to get to the ball and block it,” O’Neal claimed. “We just got tangled up in the arm.”

O’Neal revealed that Vince’s mom Michelle was seated near the play, or at least was able to get in his ear pretty quickly.

“The funniest thing… This beautiful woman came from behind, and I ain’t gonna tell you what she said. I look back, and it was his mother. I was like, ‘Yes, Ma’am,'” O’Neal added. “She said something else I wasn’t allowed to say. She wasn’t happy.”

Carter was still able to play 40 minutes on the night, with the Raptors eventually coming out with a 111-102 win over the Lakers.

Later in the segment, Shaq claimed he’d only been dunked on three times in his NBA career: once by Tim Perry, Derrick Coleman, and “the great Michael Jordan.”

And asked by Lefkoe if he’d do the hard foul on Carter again, O’Neal didn’t hesitate.

“When you get dunked on, that lives forever,” O’Neal said.

O’Neal perhaps had a reason to want to shut down Carter that might have been a bit more personal: back in 1999-2000, despite Carter being known for being one of the league’s most athletic dunkers, nobody actually slammed the ball more than Shaq.

O’Neal’s 236 dunks led the league that season, more than 100 over Carter’s 131, who ranked first on the Raptors, but seventh in the NBA.

Carter, who works for TNT alongside O’Neal, recalled his side of the story.

“I see him lunging at me, and I’m like oh, sh*t!” Carter said with a laugh. “It’s like boom, all the wind left me.”

“The whole world knew I loved Vince Carter,” O’Neal added. “It was more of an accidental flagrant foul.”