“Greatest of all time, I would like to be in that conversation. But if it’s not definite—see when you talk about LeBron and Michael, it’s definite. Kobe should be in it, too. I want to be in that conversation. If I’m not, I don’t want no f—-ing considerations.” Shaquille O’Neal on his podcast, explained his disapproval for people not considering him in the GOAT category. One such person was his former coach, who instead honored him with one word.

During his appearance on The OGs, the Miami Heat star, Udonis Haslem, brought up how Riley has been a coach to some of the biggest names in the league. “You’ve had the opportunity to coach some of the greatest centers — now that I think back — to ever play the game. The greatest starting with Kareem, then we can go to Shaq, then we can go to Pat Ewing, then we can go to Alonzo,” UD refreshes during their conversation.

But in listing out the names, he singles out the 4x champion. “Shaq might say he the best on that list,” he says. And that’s when the 5x NBA champion as a head coach interjected: “strongest.”

Shaq played under Riely’s guidance during his time with the Miami Heat for over 3 years. They would each bag their last championship title of careers with each other. And as per The Godfather, Shaq is the strongest Big of his players. But he saves his bigger compliments for Kareem Abdul-Jabar, calling him the difference-maker for any team.

“I say this because of the greatness of Kareem Abdul Jabar. He was the one guy that you could not guard. You could double him, but you could not guard him,” he says. The question was about determining the winner of the peak Heat team vs the peak LA Lakers team.

Considering Kareem at the top did not mean Riley forgot about other Centers. “You can not win without a center and so I was lucky to have them. And you’re right those four guys could be on you know, Mount Rushmore.” This signified that Shaquille O’Neal‘s contributions are not forgotten.

Shaquille O’Neal regrets not being having done enough to top THE list

A long time ago, the Big Aristotle, made a confession about how jealousy motivated him in order to succeed. But what if those goals are away from the reality? “You know what eats me? Not having five, not having six, not being in that conversation of the greatest of all time.” On his Big Podcast, Shaq continued, “You’re the most dominant big man, but when they talk about the greatest of all time, you’re not even mentioned. That eats me alive.”

The fact that he is not in the GOAT conversations still bothers him. “I get jealous that my name is not in that greatest of all times conversation.” However, there is one thing Shaq is proud of and won’t be considering anyone else’s opinion on. “The most dominant category? I’m him. You only can say one other name—Wilt Chamberlain. I don’t want to hear nobody else’s name,” the Lakers icon said on an episode of The Old Man and The Three podcast.

And that’s where Pat Riley placed him but in the Mount Rushmore of Centers. Hopefully, that would be enough for Shaq to realise he has done enough and more.