Michael Phelps found himself shocked to learn that former Los Angeles Laker Shaquille O’Neal only ever made one three-pointer during his 19 years in the NBA despite scoring 28,596 career points.

The four-time champion and three-time Finals MVP was a dominant center who used his 7ft 1in frame and 325lbs weight to bully defenders with iconic slam dunks and efficient shooting from close to the basket.

However, he was not known for sinking shots from range and is effectively the polar opposite of the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry as he only ever made one basket from behind the three-point line, something that stunned the Olympian swimmer.

During an episode of TNT’s The Match: Superstars show, Mark Wahlberg said it was true the ex-Orlando Magic icon only ever made the one three-point bucket to which Phelps replied, “I would’ve said false. Those free throws looked gross. I love you though, homie.”

Why was Shaq so bad at three pointers?

O’Neal, of course, was not known for being prolific from range. His free-throw efforts stand at an awful 52.7% compared to 83.5% for the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan, whilst his three-pointer record stands at 4.5% from just 22 attempts.

But when he did make that one three-pointer, it was a buzzer-beater in the first quarter as the Magic defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1995-96. So why did the ace rarely shoot from range?

“I would never shoot a three-pointer,” O’Neal told Cosmote TV. “All those tall shooters, they weren’t even in the game.

“Because against me, they would have had two fouls on a good night, and they wouldn’t have shot. I would take the ball and make easy baskets.”

So he simply never needed to try. Dominating the entire sport physically was all he needed to do and he never needed to venture far from the rim in order to keep racking up the points by brushing aside defenders, as Wahlberg summed up.

“His junk in your face,” Wahlberg said of O’Neal, half joking. “Threw you on the ground. He was a beast.”