A young Shaquille O’Neal taught an even-younger me what bass sounded like.When the generational big man drove near the Orlando Arena parking lot for that night’s Magic game back in the mid-‘90s, the world shook. He had a variety of different customized cars, including a lot of Suburbans with the Superman logo emblazoned on the front bumper, and made sure to make his presence felt every night, long before the game even began. Shaq’s pregame ritual schooled 10-year-old me on the low end of audio frequency.He had the music blasting in his car — with the bass turned all the way up — and speakers blaring out his favorite songs. You could feel the Shaqmobile coming from blocks away.I was lucky enough to see prime Shaq up close. Watching him play felt unlike anything I had ever seen. Each night, you knew you were seeing something that was just different. He was bigger, stronger and faster than almost every other big man from the moment he stepped into the league. In a league full of giants, he stood out more than the rest.Thirty years later, I’m getting the same feeling watching Victor Wembanyama run up and down the floor in the Western Conference finals.Just like Shaq did three decades ago, the basketball alien from France is making his case as the next face of the NBA with a combination of size and skill that we have never seen before. While they don’t have the same builds and certainly don’t have the same games, their respective impacts on the league feel similar.Wembanyama left no doubt about that in Monday night’s double-overtime Game 1 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder while putting together one of the greatest performances in one of the greatest games in league history. At just 22, Wembanyama is making the loudest statement of his young career against the defending NBA champions. He is that good and if he can stay healthy, he’s only going to get better as the years roll on.Wembanyama is 7 foot 5, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and can hit from the outside like Stephen Curry, if not at the same frequency. As I watch him in this series, I keep thinking back to when I watched another tall, young superstar change the game forever.The Athletic’s Nick Friedell pictured next to Shaquille O’Neal. (Courtesy of Nick Friedell)Both Wembanyama and O’Neal have unique athleticism and grace to go with the height that makes their ability to see over everybody else even more powerful. The pair’s defensive presence is palpable as opponents have to change shots around them throughout any game. While Wemby has the kind of jump shot that Shaq could only dream of, both men’s ability to dominate a game offensively and clean up the glass sets them apart from their peers. While Shaq’s defensive ability deteriorated with age, he was a menace on that end of the floor early in his career thanks to unbelievable athleticism, averaging 2.8 blocks per game in Orlando. The All-Star big men share a collective trait that is so rare even for the greats in the NBA — they strike fear in their opponents because they can affect the game in so many different ways.Shaq could do it with pure force. He would just bully other centers down on the block and dunk on them. Wemby can do that too, but his offensive game is more expansive early in his career, although he can’t match young Shaq’s pure power, Wembanyama can break opponents down in a variety of different ways. Both men have a distinct mental advantage over other players because their talent is so overwhelming. When Wembanyama gets rolling, just like Shaq did years ago, there’s a feeling of inevitability to their greatness.