Whether Adam Silver likes it or not, people are tuning out of NBA games and more are agreeing with Shaq. Whether he’s a TNT analyst, podcaster, or an outspoken comic, more people can see Shaquille O’Neal’s perspective on today’s NBA. Ahead of placing importance on Inside the NBA, the big man recorded the latest episode of The Big Podcast with Godfrey and the league’s low ratings inevitably came up.

Godfrey too feels out of touch with the current style of the game, contrasting Adam Silver’s response to Shaq. Both of them maintain that today’s NBA is “soft.” Furthermore, Adam Lefkoe pointed out that “we’ve always loved competition. [But] there’s no competition. It’s a contest,” courtesy of three-point shooting, no doubt.

Supporting the sentiment, the Soul Plane actor noted they even have Victor Wembanyama shooting threes instead of being a center. And that reminder ground on the TNT’s NBA analyst’s nerves, prompting him to turn off games. “I saw Lakers were playing the Spurs and you have Austin Reaves on f—king Wembanyama. I turn the f—king TV off.” 

And it’s not as funny as Shaq makes it out to be. He proceeded to say, “How do you switch a 5’11 guy on 7’5″ and expect him to be? I’m like, ‘Come on, man!’ I turned the s— off.” It is of interest to note that Reaves is, in fact, 6’5. But you get what the ‘Big Diesel’ was driving at.

It’s concerning that guys like Shaq and Lefkoe who watch the games for their jobs are tuning out of the games because they aren’t thrilling anymore.

Ironically, before that, Godfrey mentioned to the ‘Diesel’ that he was defending ’90s basketball to a younger audience. This brings up Adam Silver also taking a small jab at that era when he responded to Shaq. “When Shaq played, it was the exact opposite, with critics complaining, ‘There’s not enough variation in your game – it’s all about dunking,’” the NBA Commissioner said.

The ‘Big Aristotle,’ for his part, had some interesting arguments for Silver’s opinion on ’90s basketball.

Shaquille O’Neal takes a dig at Adam Silver

Adam Silver had ‘respectfully’ disagreed with Shaquille O’Neal’s claim that the frequency of threes is a problem. O’Neal, however, says the games were a lot more appealing under Silver’s predecessor, David Stern. At that time, the former 4x champ says, players were “chasing the mystery.” 

As per Shaq, when he and his peers went into the game, it was about figuring out strategies to stop the likes of Michael Jordan and the Bulls’ triangle offense or guard Patrick Ewing, Kevin Garnett, and even himself. The emphasis on high scores has made it boring for Shaq and many fans.

Silver introduced the NBA Cup to bring up the viewership. However, this year’s group-stage games saw a 10% dip in viewership compared to last year. Funnily enough, TNT got better ratings than ESPN’s games. 

It emboldened Shaq to very slyly insert during Inside the NBA’s live show, “They don’t watch these games, they watch these shows,” and “They watch us.” So Shaq and the Inside Guys are doing something better than Adam Silver.

As viewership trends reveal mixed results, O’Neal’s claim that fans tune in more for analysis shows than the matchups themselves leaves the league facing tough questions about its evolving identity.

What do you think about O’Neal’s latest criticism of the NBA? Does his arguments hold some weight? Or are Commissioner Silver and the league on the right trajectory?