ORLANDO, FL – If basketball hoops could talk, they’d probably have a story or two to tell about Shaquille O’Neal.

Most of those narratives would make baskets tremble with fear. This is the same guy that ripped down not one, but two goals in his NBA career.

Like all good stories, his starts on small hoop with a big dream.

“You probably don’t know nothing about this,” Shaq says. “I took a hanger and I put it on the back of my door. I had a sock and I thought I was Dr. J. I looked at my father, Sergeant Philip Harris, and said sir I know what I want to be when I grow up.”

Similar dreams came for Magic guard Terrence Ross and head coach Steve Clifford.

“That’s kind of where I remember playing ball,” Ross said. “I have pictures in a diaper playing with a little rubber ball dunking and stuff.”

“My dad was a high school coach. We had a basket right out front,” Clifford said. “I still wasn’t very good but nobody shot more hoops than I did growing up.”

Three hoops, three different memories. The basket that brings them together on a Monday afternoon in Orange County has seen several stories filled with pain.

An old hoop sits outside of Harbor House of Central Florida. It’s an organization dedicated to preventing and eliminating domestic abuse.

“It’s what we’re supposed to do,” O’Neal said. “It’s what I love to do and it’s what I’m happy to do.”

Through the Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, the Orlando Magic, and Pepsi, it is time to break ground on the center’s brand new basketball court.

“Living in an emergency shelter is hard. Living in an emergency shelter when you’re a teenager is even harder,” said Harbor House of Central Florida CEO Michelle Sperzel. “To have something to come home to after school and be able to play a pickup game with the friends you’re forming at the shelter is going to just be incredible.”

According to Harbor House, at least two million kids each year witness domestic abuse. Those same kids are at a higher risk for depression, anxiety and can become more likely to perpetuate the cycle. That’s enough not just for basketball players, but fathers, husbands and son’s to step in and step up.

“I can’t imagine putting my kids through anything like this or going through what some of these kids are going through,” said Ross, who is married with two children. “So being here showing them support that they’re not alone, it can only help.”

“Women are the most important people in the world,” O’Neal said. “I am the product that I am because of a woman, Dr. Lucille O’Neal. My father always taught me you have to protect and provide for your women.”

Eventually the new basketball hoop outside of Harbor House will have its own story to tell. It will be one with the love for the game but more importantly with love for the community.

“Time is now to start rebuilding these communities,” O’Neal said. “Start bringing people closer together and start taking care of the people that need our help the most.”