Despite Shaquille O’Neal Inclusion, Steve Nash Dumped in Ex Suns Star’s Team for Underrated Point Guard

Shaquille O’Neal might be considered one of the ‘Most Dominant Ever’ to grace the court. Despite multiple accolades, the Lakers legend is still bitter about losing out to Steve Nash. Earlier this year, during an interview, he even took an indirect jab at his former Suns teammate. Even though history cannot be changed now, Shaq must be happy knowing that another former teammate from the valley gave him an indirect nod over Nash.

Stromile Swift picked the best point guard he ever played with, “My point guard gonna be Earl Watson.” Even hosts of the show, Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles were taken aback by the answer. They even questioned their guest for not selecting Steve Nash, but Swift had an answer. “Yeah, but that was only like for a few months though. That was at the end.”

Further on the podcast, he revealed his starting five. Earl Watson, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Stromile Swift, and Shaquille O’Neal made it to the picks. Swift was a journeyman in the league in his 9-year career. His last appearance was with the Suns, where he featured in only 13 games. So he picked Earl Watson, and had a very good reason for it.

“Okay, I’m going to tell you why I picked Earl. At this time, I loved J. Will, man. J. Will, I was able to be on some incredible highlights. J. Will put me on ESPN a lot of times. But J. Will was a shoot, at this time, he was a shoot first guard. He made some crazy, incredible passes, but he still was a shoot first guard.” Swift said on the Knuckleheads podcast “I like the pass first guard. Earl always looked out for me. Earl was, man, he was always looking for me on the wing.”

Swift even praised Watson for being more of a coach on the court and hailed him as “one of the best ever” in terms of basketball IQ. Shaquille O’Neal would be happy after all, even though he shared just 13 games with Swift. But left enough mark to be included over Steve Nash. The rivalry with the point guard started first after the ’04 and ’05 seasons.

Shaquille O’Neal and his issue with Steve Nash

Nash won two straight MVPs in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. The Santa Clara University product averaged 15.5 points and a league-leading 11.5 assists while leading the Phoenix Suns to a 62-20 record. That was the first time when the 8x All-Star won the first MVP trophy for leading his team to the best record in the league. But don’t discount Shaquille O’Neal’s effort with the Miami Heat either.

As he averaged 22.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in his first season with the Heat. Both superstars led their teams to the top of the respective conferences but failed to win the Conference Finals. At the end of the season, Nash would win the MVP trophy as he received 65 first-place votes against Shaq’s 58. That’s why O’Neal made an indirect dig earlier this year. But the Lakers legend once took the matter into his own hands during live TV.

In 2020, Shaquille O’Neal confronted Nash about his back-to-back MVPs on live TV but did so with his cheeky comments. During an episode of ‘NBA on TNT’, with Nash as a guest, Ernie Johnson poked fun at the Center and recalled that the Suns star won the MVP trophy twice. Shaq tried for a comeback and asked if he could see the “stolen” MVP trophy. But just like the trophy, Nash came out on top this time thanks to his witty reply. “If you can’t make a free throw down the stretch, it’s hard to get an MVP, buddy.”

So, now that somebody chose Shaquille O’Neal over Nash, the thought would bring some relief to the Lakers legend. Even if the awards can’t be altered now, the vote from Stromile Swift is a nice consolation.

“Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.”