Could Shaquille O’Neal have been much more than what he became in the NBA? There is no doubt Shaq has been one of the NBA greats and one of the most dominating players ever. But it is also true he faced the allegations of being lazy in the NBA community quite often. In fact, his former teammate, Kobe Bryant, had himself said he would have won more with Shaq had the 7 ‘1” player been more active in the gym. And more recently, former NFL star Shannon has also pointed out Shaquille O’Neal’s lack of dedication and fitness for the game.

It is worth mentioning that Shaq, in a recent Instagram post, bashed Sharpe for his video on the 4x NBA champ’s take on Nikola Jokic as MVP. Reacting to Shaq’s Instagram call-out, Sharpe said he has always maintained that Shaquille O’Neal has been a dominant player. And he even agreed to Shaq’s claims that he was never in the NFL what Shaq was in the NBA. However, he highlighted in his reply that he gave his hundred percent to his sport, which Shaq did not. “I never half a**ed it,” the former NFL star said on his ‘Nightcap‘ podcast.

Notably, Sharpe had started his reply by mentioning that he never professed himself as the greatest. But he emphasized he got what he got because he worked his a** off. “My question is, do you believe that you gave everything you possibly could in basketball? Did you train the way you should have? Did you eat the way you should have?… You allowed your weight to get out of control…,” Sharpe said. However, he still praised Shaquille O’Neal, because despite everything, he still got his four rings and three finals MVP.

Was Shaquille O’Neal really a lazy player?

The former Lakers star spoke on the ‘lazy’ allegations against him during an interview with Kristine Leahy in 2019. He said back then that these claims would have made more sense if he never won. “It’ll be a great coulda, woulda story. Oh, man, if Shaq would have worked out, he would have averaged 29. Man, if Shaq would have worked out, he would have got three mvp finals in a row…if Shaq would have worked out when he left and went to Miami, he would have won another championship…,” he went to name more achievements he claimed being the way he was.

It is worth mentioning that although his former teammate Kobe Bryant had pointed out Shaquille O’Neal for his laziness, he later defended as well. “It used to drive me crazy that he was so lazy… You got to have the responsibility of working every single day,” Kobe told the New Yorker in 2014. However, later in an interview with GQ Magazine in 2015, the Black Mamba showed empathy towards Shaq. Kobe stated that as you get older, the body faces problems and one has to really enjoy working, even in such conditions.

“Right now, I hurt. My ankle joints, my knee joints, my back, my thighs are sore. But for him, with his big toe and his knee, it became very hard for him to get up in the morning and push through those things,” he said. Kobe further explained that all this may have caused a lack of willingness back then in Shaq. And this was something he had issues with back then. Now, it is true that Shaquille O’Neal achieved a lot being the way he was, but the fact is we will never know what more he could have been had he been more active.