THIRTY-ONE YEARS SEPARATED two Game 7 postgame huddles, each just after the buzzer of epic conference finals.
In both, a generational big man and former No. 1 pick was filled with emotion after surviving a seven-game series, having just led a group of players with no playoff experience together into the Finals in just his third season.
More than three decades ago, it was Shaquille O'Neal with his massive arms pulling Dennis Scott, Anthony Avent and, surprisingly, mascot Stuff the Magic Dragon in, celebrating the Orlando Magic's victory over the Indiana Pacers in a grueling 1995 Eastern Conference finals.
Just last week, Victor Wembanyama wrapped his long arms around Stephon Castle, Carter Bryant and Keldon Johnson as he led the San Antonio Spurs over two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
The one difference: The Spurs' celebration in OKC was in front of stunned silence.
Back inside the long-since-razed O-rena in 1995, Magic fans basked in the sounds of Jock Jams as streamers flew.
Each player was an imposing figure whom the NBA had never seen before. Each had lifted their youthful teams to the precipice of NBA glory.
Because of that, Wembanyama and O'Neal are linked at this juncture of their careers despite their 30-year removal from each other.
"He's Shaq," one veteran NBA head coach said of Wembanyama. "He eats clean, worries about how his water is filtered and doesn't break backboards like Shaq did, but he presents the same problem. None of us know what the hell we're going to do to stop him."
The 1995 Finals were the beginning of the Shaq era in the NBA.
What it ultimately became was not the linear domination that some had feared or predicted -- partially due to O'Neal changing teams, health issues and the rise of Tim Duncan.
Still, the 7-foot-2, 300-pound big man went to six Finals from 1995 to 2006 and won four titles.
And like with O'Neal in 1995, these Finals might indeed be ushering in another era, again led by another imposing figure, this time a 7-foot-4 center-guard with an unprecedented arsenal of skills.
How deep it goes and how long it might last is still anyone's guess.
THE MAGIC WERE smashed in the 1995 Finals by the defending champion Houston Rockets, with in-his-prime Hakeem Olajuwon outplaying O'Neal.
The sixth-seeded Rockets were the underdogs but pulled off a string of upsets. After sweeping Orlando, Hall of Fame coach Rudy Tomjanovich famously declared: "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!"
Years later, O'Neal admitted some blame for the showing, saying that he and his young teammates were guilty of celebrating and partying too aggressively in the days leading up to the Finals. He said he learned from it and never made that mistake again.
"I feel like I'm immune to the distractions like partying, alcohol, drugs," Wembanyama said in an interview with the Ringer in 2024. "Why would I ever do that?"
Wembanyama avoids alcohol and only consumes plant-based sports drinks. Earlier this season, he knocked a sports drink that contains sugar off a table in front of him before an interview, declaring, "Oh, hell no."
"Of course people are going to compare him to Shaq, but he's actually Shaq 2.0," a rival general manager said. "Because he takes care of his body and plays a modern game, shoots the 3 and can make free throws. Yeah, he's our nightmare."
O'Neal averaged 29.3 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks and shot 58% in the 1994-95 season while playing 79 games. He finished second in the MVP voting.
Wembanyama averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks while shooting 51% and playing in 64 games. He finished third.
O'Neal missed 511 free throws in the regular season and playoffs (he shot 54%) and made no 3-pointers. Wembanyama has missed 78 free throws (he shooting 84%) and made 152 3-pointers so far in the regular season and playoffs.
O'Neal missed only four games over his first three seasons, Wembanyama has missed 65. Over the following three years, O'Neal missed 81 as he started to deal with injury problems.
These stylistic and lifestyle differences, which are partly generational and partly cultural, as one grew up in a nomadic military family and the other outside Paris, are only part of the story.
The Spurs, naturally, hope their big man's first NBA Finals end differently than O'Neal's.
Their Finals opponent, the New York Knicks, are not like the 1994-95 Rockets. They're built around the smallest player on the floor, star Jalen Brunson, and they carry the burden of representing a franchise that hasn't won in more than 50 years.
But like the Rockets, the Knicks enter the Finals as dangerous underdogs.
They haven't lost in more than 40 days and crushed their competition getting here, winning by an average of 23 points in blitzing the East.
If the Wembanyama era is about to begin, it's going to take another big-time performance such as the one he summoned in the conference finals.
And the Knicks know the stakes.
"Obviously, [Wembanyama] is a special talent, and the NBA is blessed to have him and for him to be able to showcase his talent to the world," Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns said. "This is a culmination of what a life's work in basketball comes to, playing in an NBA Finals."
THE MAGIC HAD tremendous fortune the year after drafting O'Neal in 1992, landing the No. 1 pick again in 1993.
They famously made a draft-night trade, moving that pick (ultimately used to select Chris Webber) for Penny Hardaway and three future first-round picks.
When they made the Finals in 1995, O'Neal and Hardaway were just 23, starters Scott and Nick Anderson were 27 and the veteran was 30-year-old Horace Grant.
They were one of the youngest teams to make the Finals. A potential dynasty loomed.
That the Magic defeated the freshly unretired Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the second round of the playoffs that year -- Jordan, as it turned out, was not daunted and never lost another playoff series in his career as he won the next three titles -- only solidified the belief that a new era had begun.
This Spurs team has also nailed their top picks in the two years after drafting their star big man. Castle and Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick from last year, are cornerstones.
"I'll be the first to complain about how lucky they got in the lottery," one Western Conference scout said. "But the truth is they have crushed the draft."
Now the Spurs find themselves as the second-youngest team to make the Finals, behind only the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers.
There have been books written about why O'Neal left the Magic after just four seasons in 1996, including what he believed were underwhelming offers from the team, the allure of the Los Angeles Lakers and some level of friction with Hardaway being viewed by some as Orlando's franchise player.
There have been two lockouts, which created free agency limitations and star compensation changes, in the 30 years since.
As a result, this summer the Spurs are expected to offer Wembanyama a five-year extension of more than $300 million that he's highly incentivized to accept.
Shaq 2.0 or, as he might prefer it, Wembanyama 1.0, is largely a different ballgame, yet undeniably with the same level and stakes and expectations.
The O'Neal era was defined by dominance and success but also missed opportunities. His run alongside Kobe Bryant ended while both were in their prime years. Injuries limited him in Miami and Cleveland, where he had a 60-win season with LeBron James disrupted.
"Even though I got four [championships], I felt I should have six or seven," O'Neal said in an interview with Slam Magazine after he retired. "In my mind, I should have seven rings. In my mind, I should be No. 2 in scoring; in my mind, I'm the most dominant big man to ever play the game."
Wembanyama's time might be dawning. His era has not yet been littered with hypotheticals. He says he and the Spurs find power in the unknown.
"The lack of experience is a strength for us," Wembanyama told ESPN's Malika Andrews. "Because we could do impossible stuff ... because we don't know it's impossible."