After dominating the hardwood as one of the greatest centers of all time, Shaquille O’Neal turned out to be one of the greatest basketball analysts. The 4x-NBA champion entices his fans by holding deep and interesting conversations about the sport with his peers. Just like the NBA fans, O’Neal also loves to talk about the game’s greatest players. Taking a sneak peek at the league’s greatest stars, the former MVP and his cousin had recently weighed in on Larry Bird, and threw light on a secret of the Celtics legend.

Any conversation about outstanding basketball players is incomplete without mentioning Larry Bird and his phenomenal achievements on the hardwood. As it turns out, there is more to the Celtics legend’s legacy. Shaq and his cousin Jermaine recently gave their two cents on Larry Bird’s secret legacy.

Shaquille O’Neal and cousin expose Larry Bird

In his recent interview on the ‘Fluent and Chill’ podcast, the Big Aristotle and the hosts spoke about a plethora of topics pertaining to the NBA. At a certain point, one of the hosts, Jermaine, started to talk about his top 10 NBA players of all time to his cousin Shaquille O’Neal. Jermaine did not have O’Neal’s former teammate Kobe Bryant on the list.

According to DJ Diesel, it is blasphemous to not have Kobe on such a list. Apparently, to put Kobe on the list, Shaq asked his cousin to trade off Larry Bird, whom Jermaine picked as the seventh greatest.

Soon, the cousins started to speak about the Boston Celtics icon. Apart from the stellar performer he was, Larry Bird is also regarded as one of the greatest trash talkers of all time by fellow NBA stars. “You hear a lot of thugs like Isiah say and Magic say Bird was no punk,” O’Neal said. “Bird was one of the craziest trash talkers in the history of the game,”?Shaq added.

“Bird was what we call, I remember when OJ said I am not black I am OJ. That was who Bird was. We ain’t looking at Bird like that, Bird was just bird,” sounded off Jermaine revealing Larry Bird’s best kept secret- his trash talking skills.

Larry Bird dominated the ’80s

In the hoops community, Michael Jordan and his Bulls dynasty are synonyms for the word dominance. However, way before the Bulls became this dominant, there were the Celtics, led by Larry Bird. During Bird’s prime, even the mighty Jordan and his Bulls failed multiple times to have the last laugh against the Celtics.

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Larry Bird’s ace trash talking skills also played a large role in the Celtics’ triumphant campaigns. There were not many players who could stand Bird’s verbal attacks. Many times, the Celtics used this frailty of their opponents as an opportunity to win the game. Moreover, Bird’s fierce competitiveness gave way to his iconic rivalry with the Lakers legend Magic Johnson. The intensity of the feud had even played a crucial role in making the NBA popular.

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