Big Diesel backed into a corner is the fiercest. Shaquille O’Neal is not winning over anyone with his latest argument. But he’s resolutely staying out of the NBA’s biggest hype right now to prop up an underrated player. He made that stance official on Inside the NBA, earning a heated reaction from Charles Barkley.

Shaq is not stewing in Chuck’s opinion silently. Disregarding the outcome of the Spurs-Suns game, he took to social media with a poignant question.

Shaquille O’Neal is not on board the Wembanyama hype-train

He brought it up on Inside the NBA first. Now, Shaquille O’Neal will not let it rest. While everyone is parading behind Victor Wembanyama, Shaq’s going in a different direction.  He believes another big man in the league that deserves attention is Bol Bol from the Phoenix Suns. Bol’s team fell to Wemby’s Spurs today 114-115. O’Neal doesn’t care though.

He took to Instagram with a straightforward question for his 33 million followers. “the difference between bol bol and wemby is what?” It complements a montage of Bol Bol and Wembanyama’s highlights from their NBA careers so far. 

Going by Shaq’s compiled visual evidence, Bol Bol and Wembanyama are well-matched. Unfortunately, the two did not matchup last night as Bol was not a part of Phoenix’s rotation. However, 7’2″ Bol Bol once played alongside Shaq’s son, Shareef O’Neal, in a Nike exhibit. He’s seen him play firsthand and believes he’s got the handle to shoot too.

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Bol Bol however has only played one out of Phoenix’s 4 regular season games thus far. There are not enough current stats to support O’Neal’s stance. Unsurprisingly then, he’s not finding much support on his side. 

Fans responded under Shaq’s post mostly with disagreement. Some even had jokes to Shaq’s question. But he’s not earning any positive affirmation for Bol Bol on Instagram nor on TNT.

Charles Barkley loses his cool on Shaq

Shaq dug up his argument for Bol Bol on Inside the NBA before this post and stumped his co-hosts.

Charles Barkley yelled, “He’s only played three games!” O’Neal responded that he’s sticking to his stance no matter how much Chuck yells. Though he very much did, Barkley denied yelling. He did critique Wembanyama’s game a bit but circled back to Bol Bol and Shaq declaring, “I don’t agree with that at all.”

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From what he’s shown, there’s no convincing Big Diesel. He may not be on the Wemby train but he’s certainly not going to stop his Bol Bol campaign.