“I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win,” said Jordan once. And this mentality has led him to be compared with different players. Whether it’s his drive compared to Kobe Bryant, his leadership juxtaposed with LeBron James, or his artistry beside Magic Johnson, Jordan’s legacy is often dissected to find parallels. But this time a former NBA champ has brought up a comparison that the NBA fans couldn’t even think of.

The 4x NBA champion Andre Iguodala recently, during an episode of the Come And Talk 2 Me podcast, pointed out a core similarity in the approaches of His Airness and Big Aristotle. “The game is like no matter what goes in my [Jordan] world, like when I show up to the game, you are gonna get my max effort…but with him, it was like taken to another level in terms of like his competitive edge. Like he really wanted to k–l you like, imagine someone knowing they better than everybody. Like he had Shaq’s mentality with his skill set. When Shaq got mad, Kobe would say that when Shaq got mad, he was scary, but Shaq wouldn’t get mad every day. So imagine Shaq like I’m breaking everybody head every single night. Like Shaq is a playful dude, but MJ had, and then you add in like his charisma,” said Iguodala during the podcast.

Iguodala highlighted how Jordan’s drive for greatness mirrored Shaq’s intensity, particularly when they were angry. The Chicago Bulls veteran was infamous for using even the smallest slight as motivation. One iconic moment was his infamous “I took that personally” narrative from The Last Dance, where he seemed to invent challenges to keep himself motivated. For example, after hearing a comment from then-rookie LaBradford Smith, Jordan’s frustration boiled over, and he demolished Smith’s team the Washington Bullets in their next matchup on March 20, 1993, scoring 47 points.

“He just had a killer mentality. He actually was super fast like he was fast. You see how he moved early in his career. Maybe he was ahead in his career but he was just really fast like super athletic,” added Iguodala during the podcast.

Shaquille O’Neal, although known for his dominant physical presence, brought a similar attitude when angered. While Shaq’s anger might not have been as meticulously documented, his “angry” mode was visible in key games. One key moment where this characteristic of Shaq was visible was during a game between the Los Angeles and the Philadelphia 76ers on November 10, 1999. The fight started only because Barkley had thrown a ball at his face. This was one of the most epic in-game physical altercations in NBA history. Surprisingly, the fight between the NBA veterans was stopped by their own mothers.

“Momma dropped that final order. I’m not gonna go against my momma ever. So, I’m walking down the hall. He’s walking down the hall. I’m looking at him like, ‘Motherf—-er, even if my momma said that, you make a move, Imma knock yo’ a– out. He started laughing, I started laughing,” said O’Neal during a podcast with Draymond Green.

Jordan and Shaq were stylistically different, but a look at career stats tells the same story. When Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers, he had 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, with six NBA championships, and five MVPs. In comparison to that, Shaquille O’Neal’s career numbers fill in how dominant he was in the paint while averaging 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game. While he only carries four championships on his mantle, his 15 All-Star appearances and his one MVP title solidify him in the NBA.

Being an NBA Finals MVP and having scored 13,000+ points in his career, this opinion from Iguodala is not without any wisdom. Ultimately, the Michael Jordan vs. Shaquille O’Neal comparison is a tribute to the fact that these two NBA legends are always going to be regarded in both time eras. But this wasn’t the 1st time that Iguodala had shared an offbeat view about Jordan.

When Andre Iguodala praised Jordan in an extraordinary way

Some players, and even the ones from different sports, have always referred to His Airness as the ‘Greatest player of All Time.’ However, Andre Iguodala, who has never been shy about his affection towards the game’s best players, also said that people just don’t get how good a player Michael Jordan was career long.

On JJ Redick’s The Old Man and the Three podcast, Iguodala broke down why he thinks MJ was a whole different ballgame. “MJ should be in his different world; that’s how good MJ was. If Kobe was that good, if LeBron is this good, if Kareem was that good, if Tim Duncan was that good, Larry Bird is white, and he was this good, imagine how good Michael Jordan is or was that it’s not even close,” said Iguodala in the podcast.

In the end, one can say for Iguodala and many others that Jordan’s influence on the game is timeless, and his achievements put him in a league of his own.