Shaquille O’Neal Jumps to Stephen Curry’s Rescue as 76ers Legend Blames Warriors Star for Nuggets Stinger

Charles Barkley has a roundabout way of saying he’s not a Warriors fan. After a nailbiter of a fourth quarter, the Dubs lost at the last second when Nikola Jokic made a buzzer-beating three. While Shaq is a big fan of the Joker, he’s also one of the strongest supporters of Stephen Curry. Despite giving the 2023 NBA champion his flowers, Shaquille O’Neal also defended the losing side during yesterday’s TNT coverage.

Barkley pinned Dub Nation’s 127-130 loss to the Denver Nuggets on its veterans. Specifically, Chuck blamed Steph, Klay Thompson, and the suspended Draymond Green. He would go as far as to say that they are “cooked”. Sir Charles even found support from Kenny Smith, who doesn’t think the Warriors could reach the finals. This is where the Big Aristotle stepped in. O’Neal was not ready to count out the Warriors.

The Los Angeles Lakers legend predicted they could make the playoffs early in the season and his opinion hasn’t changed. “Because of their shooting ability and their experience, I’m not gonna count them out,” stated the 7-foot analyst. Now remember, Shaq has been subtly campaigning to include Curry in the greatest of all time discussion. This time, he had to defend the Chef after Charles Barkley unleashed a tirade against the Warriors’ aging roster.

“Sports are a young people’s game. As much as I love Klay, he’s past his prime. Same thing with Dray. That’s why they’re gonna be streaky. And Steph used to cover it up. But he can’t anymore because he’s starting to wear down,” said Barkley.

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It appears where Chuck is saying age and athleticism, Shaq is calling it experience and skills. Either way, the Golden State Warriors are fighting to reach .500 basketball. And the Inside Guys seem split on the direction in which their season will go.

Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley get heated over Warriors’ status

Inside the NBA came back from its holiday break with some contradictions. On one hand, Barkley argues that the Warriors need to focus on its younger players but also doesn’t think Andrew Wiggins is a worthy replacement for Green.

Shaq, on the other hand, is counting on the experience of the core players but took the benefit of the doubt from Chris Paul. “I’m trying to win the game, so who has the better percentage,” he claimed to justify why the ball deserved to be passed to Wiggins more than CP3. The Point God scored 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists in 30 minutes. Wiggins made 11 points and 3 rebounds in 27 minutes.

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When Barkley countered, Shaq raised his voice to say, “Bro, you don’t have a good percentage for the fifth damn time!” It led to a shouting match between both of them over who is a better shooter between Wiggins and Paul.

It’s not new for Barkley and O’Neal to have a loud war of words. They won’t be seeing eye-to-eye on the Warriors any time soon.