Shaquille O’Neal is arguably the most dominant basketball player ever, and he is proud of that. During his prime, the four-time NBA champion was impossible to guard and teams had to either double-team him or resort to hard fouls. Most teams used a combination of both strategies as they tried to figure out a way to stop The Big Diesel. As a result, the four-time NBA champion naturally did not seem too happy that some current players are being compared to him in terms of pure dominance.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend had all the tools to be the greatest player ever. However, all he wanted to be was to be the most dominant ever. And it is safe to say he achieved it. So O’Neal did not take it lightly when other names were thrown around with his in that category.
Shaquille O’Neal is not happy with the comparisons
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NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal recently joined the Fluent & Chill podcast presented by Players Choice. The show is co-hosted by one of Shaq’s first cousins, Jermaine. During the 20-minute sit-down, the 2000 NBA MVP talked about a variety of interesting things from his personal life and NBA career.
At the beginning of the show, Shaq revealed how Jermaine used to motivate him whenever he had a few bad games by showing up to the arena. He recounted that his cousin would have all the stats info about his recent games and demand him to play better. The 15-time NBA All-Star then expressed his disappointment that his cousin and the crew discussed a list of players who are as dominant as Shaq.
He directly told his cousin to not do something like that. O’Neal said, “I’m a little bit jealous that I’m not in the Greatest Player of All-Time conversation. But that’s fine. I got my own category.” He added, “I was never in the Greatest Player of the Game category and I’m okay with that. But my category, I don’t like y’all just throwing people in my category. Don’t do that to me.”
Shaq did not want to disrespect the current players who are being compared to him as dominant. However, he was clearly unhappy about the comparisons and let his feelings be known. He noted that only Wilt Chamberlain can be considered the most dominant in NBA history along side him.
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Kobe Bryant’s frustrations about O’Neal
NBA fans need no introduction about the beef between Shaquille O’Neal and the late Kobe Bryant. There were many reasons behind the duo’s feud. However, one of the main reasons behind it was Bryant‘s frustration with Shaq’s work ethic.
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The five-time NBA champion believed O’Neal could have been the greatest player ever if he worked harder. He thought the towering center was wasting away his talents. However, Shaq always just wanted to be the most dominant.