Shaquille O?Neal Acknowledges Journalist?s Passionate Defense on Michael Jordan Being the NBA GOAT

Shaquille O’Neal made his NBA debut in 1992 when Michael Jordan was at his peak. He has seen firsthand evidence of Jordan’s greatness. They even had great matchups against each other. The 1995 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals and the 1996 Conference Finals come to mind. Shaq’s Orlando Magic and Jordan’s Chicago Bulls were the top two teams from the East for quite a few years.

Recently, journalist Nick Wright put up a list of the 50 greatest NBA players in the last 50 years. He revealed Michael Jordan at number three which created a copious amount of outrage among fans and Shaq.

On First Things First, Chris Broussard said that Jordan should not be second, let alone third. He said, “Michael Jordan is the GOAT, period.” Broussard compared Jordan to greats like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. According to him, Chamberlain dominated statistically but only won two rings while Russell had 11 rings but never statistically dominated the league. He mentioned that Jordan did both: He won six rings and dominated the league in stats.

After that, Broussard showed the audience a table that showed how Jordan won the most while playing fewer seasons than LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In his 15 seasons. Jordan won six titles, six Finals MVPs, and five Regular Season MVPs. He has also led the league 13 times and has been the scoring champion in 10 out of the 15 seasons he played in the NBA.

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The player has been included in the NBA All-Star team 14 times and 11 times in the All-NBA teams. He also won NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1988 and was included in the All-Defensive First Team nine times.

Shaquille O’Neal vs Michael Jordan: 1995 & 1996 Playoffs

Shaquille O’Neal shared that video on his stories. He faced Jordan during his peak and won. DJ Diesel dominated the Bulls in the 1995 Playoffs. He averaged 24.3 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. He dominated them and led Orlando to a place in the NBA Finals.

Michael Jordan took his revenge next year. He averaged almost 30 points per game with a high of 45 points in Game 4. Hence, Shaquille O’Neal takes Jordan seriously due to the whipping Orlando Magic received from the latter. Chicago Bulls swept the Magic that year in the Conference Finals.

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What did you make of Nick Wright’s list? Let us know in the comments.