To nobody’s surprise, Shaquille O’Neal once again called Rudy Gobert the worst player of all time last week. But this time the Wolves player did reply with a fiery comment. However, Shaq is not the only center from the past who questioned the French star’s abilities. “I Don’t Think He Deserved Those DPOYs…” was the comment from Dwight Howard. Another former player who couldn’t find his spot in the NBA, Patrick Beverly, described the criticism from O’Neal.

“We talking about Superman, one of the most dominant players to ever play the game. Shaq is probably thinking that if Shaq was that size, he would be doing what he did and more. And everyone’s not Shaq.” He continued on his podcast and explained why the situation is similar to O’Neal’s criticism of Dwight Howard.

“Shaq had the same issues Dwight Howard also. At the time, Dwight Howard was the best big man alive. So I don’t think it’s personally like, I just think Shaq is a hard critic when it comes to guys who play at his position.” Even Shaq claimed he wasn’t hating on Gobert with his comments in the same video where he called him the WOAT.

The majority of the criticism stems from Gobert not being an elite defensive player. During the last regular season with the Wolves, Gobert averaged 14.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks. There was a decline in his performance in the playoffs, 12.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks. This is the reason why Shaq doesn’t feel Gobert deserves any hype.

Shaq had a problem with the 7’1″ not proving his worth

For the upcoming season, the Minnesota Timberwolves star will earn $43 million per year. Recently, the basketball operations president for the Wolves was happy to provide an extension to Gobert. As per Shaq, the French Center is not justifying his value as he has only averaged 12.7 points in the league.

In comparison, the 4x NBA champion averaged 10 more points during his 19-year NBA career. He averaged 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 blocks. Even ahead in blocks and assists and only behind by a whisker in rebounds average where Gobert leads with 11.8. Being a center, Shaq expects more domination from the Wolves star.

It was a similar problem that O’Neal had with Dwight Howard. The latter only scored more than 20 points per game four times during his 18-year-long NBA career. But he still averaged more points and equals the rebounding average in comparison to Gobert. Even the recent Olympics performance gave people another reason to critique, as Gobert managed just 3.3 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in front of the home crowd.

Nine players bettered Gobert in blocks during last year’s playoffs, and two were his teammates. Even for rebounds, he was number 7 during the postseason, that’s why the numbers on the contract don’t add up for Shaq. Will Rudy Gobert turn the criticism around anytime soon? Only time will tell.

“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.”