Questioning Shaquille O’Neal’s Claims About Bill Walton, Draymond Green Shows Different Side of NBA Legend

After an emotional tribute on Inside the NBA alongside the TNT Crew, Draymond Green once more reminisced about Bill Walton on his self-titled show. The NBA legend and sportscaster passed away on Monday at the age of 71. Most remember the late Walton for his fun-loving persona. Green talked about the good relationship with the Walton father and son, stating that it was Bill’s persona that left a lasting impact on him. However, the same person holds a contrasting account in Shaquille O’Neal‘s book. A rather “up and down” one.

“I mean so amazing, funny, lighthearted. I mean just incredible like he’s not attacking anyone. Although Shaq said he attacked him. I never saw that from Bill,” Green said on his podcast. But, Shaq had chosen a different set of words to address his relationship with the late legend.

Shaquille O’Neal had a longstanding beef with Bill Walton through his NBA career and after. Apparently, O’Neal disliked him since his time at LSU. Shaq very recently said on The Big Podcast, “You know who I’ve always had a problem with? Bill Walton.”

In a clip snippet released by Bleacher Report from the Inside the NBA, Shaq while honoring the late Bill Walton, shed light on their relationship. He said, “Bill and I had an up-and-down relationship, not gonna lie…A lot of times he would criticize me, criticize me, I was so mad I wanted to put hands on him…”

Although O’Neal often commented that Walton was not one of the great big men to idealize, it was Walton’s comment on Shaq’s injury that infuriated the then-Lakers champion. Most of the NBA community doesn’t think it was an attack when Walton advised Shaq to lose weight to deal with his arthritic toe issue. Walton’s own career was cut short by a chronic foot injury. Yet O’Neal lashed out at him and held a grudge against Walton for decades.

However, Dray’s viewpoint is different. Though he trash-talked Bill’s son recently, he credits Luke for his first All-Star selection. He’s such a fan of Bill’s commentary, that he ignored the game just to listen to Bill. “He’ll be talking about probably don’t understand it because he’s going about it in a roundabout way and mixing in some life and some one-liners,” Green went on with more awe-filled sounds and gestures for Walton. Shaq used to complain about this and how he never learned anything because of Bill’s winding stories. However, we saw a different side of O’Neal at TNT.

Shaq made peace with Bill Walton

TNT paid a heartfelt tribute to Walton but O’Neal was especially moving in his words for the late big man. Shaq especially acknowledged Walton cared for him. After excluding him from his self-founded Big Man Alliance, he said that the world lost, “one of the four fathers of the Big Man Alliance.” Like that Reebok commercial, he acknowledged Walton was in league with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell.

He admitted they had a tumultuous relationship when Walton criticized the Lakers. But now he calls it the “Big man rites of passage” to be criticized by a legend. He revealed he buried the hatchet with Walton when they met at the Final Four last year. He said, “I had to learn how to listen to what these legends say…I saw Bill last year at the Final Four, we hugged, he told me he just wanted to make me better…I’m glad he was hard on me.”

O’Neal expressed his condolences to the Walton family. Visibly, he was relieved he buried this feud before losing a mentor.