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via Getty

via Getty

Social media can be so unpredictable. Just recently, a wild trend has taken the basketball world by storm. While many bow down to pay homage to the basketball legends of the 90s, some netizens are beginning to argue that these players may not be as exceptional as widely believed. Surprisingly, the netizens, mostly the young NBA fans have started this new trend, “We’re done with the 90’s” to discredit the legends. Lakers legend and 90’s talent Shaquille O’Neal also shared his opinion on the same. 

The 4x NBA champion recently made an appearance for an interview with Yahoo Sports. During the conversation, he was asked about this new trend. In response to the question, O’Neal shared the reality behind the trend while dissecting it. The former MVP seems to believe that while the 2024 generation has been extremely advanced, fans are just a bit unimpressed by the skill set of the 90’s. O’Neal further explained, how he felt the same thing back in the 90s.

During his playing days, the Los Angeles Lakers legend shared that he used to get compared to Wilt Chamberlain. However, according to him, the legends of the 60’s and 70’s were not that great. “They always compare me to Will Chamberlain. I’m looking at his 70s highlights like, I would have killed this guy. So, it’s just you know, normal stuff like, the stuff that we see in 2024 is way more advanced than the stuff we see in the 90s. so if you’re a guy especially on social media and all you see is a 2024, 2024, 2024 and then you see 1990, you’re definitely not going to be impressed by the 1990,” explained O’Neal. 

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He further added, “When I came in the 1990 I wasn’t impressed by Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, all Wilt Chamberlain footage – they only had one or two moves.”

Do you agree with O’Neal or is this trend by the netizens too much? Let’s take a look at what’s happening on social media.

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The viral trend of challenging the hype around 90’s basketball talents

This trend seems to be an attempt to put an end to the hype of the 90’s players. Most particularly, it has aimed to spark discussions on the defensive prowess of that era. Some fans have started to share clips of Michael Jordan and other basketball stars’ games from the past to highlight the sloppy game.

There is also ongoing discussion about whether LeBron James surpasses Jordan, pointing out his limited left-hand dribbling skills and Jordan’s former teammate Scottie Pippen‘s skills in various categories besides scoring.

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Not an interesting one for many who publicly expressed their disapproval but some of the netizens have continued to bring up the 90’s champions, including O’Neal and others, in the debate. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section below.

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