Victor Wembanyama, the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year, has been at the edge of Shaquille O’Neal’s criticism for quite some time. For a big man like him, with a size of 7’3″ and 209lb, Shaq blatantly expressed his dissatisfaction with his performance and went so far as to remove Wemby from his top 30 list of best players for this season. This makes it clear why O’Neal uses a sarcastic tone when a show host takes a bet for the young NBA player. 

The show under consideration is the Big Podcast with Shaq hosted by Adam Lefkoe other than ‘The Big Aristotle’ himself. This time the show brought the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast hosts and NBA legends Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson in for discussion. The host here initiated a game to rate his betting prowess, the first of which started with a campaign for Wembanyama, which triggered the protest. 

“I have some season bets, tell me if I’m smart or if I’m stupid,” Lefkoe kickstarted the session. “Wemby to win Defensive Player of the Year minus 170.” Barnes was quick with: “Smart, he should have won it last year.” 

Leading the league in blocks and making the First Team All-Defense, Wemby did make it to the DOPY race but would end up second with 19 first-place votes, 44 second-place votes, and 18 third-place votes. This made him the highest-placed first-year player. Rudy Gobert would ultimately take the crown for the fourth time. So Jackson is also aware of the potential. “I don’t know the 170 but yes, Wemby yes,” he admitted. 

But all of this, further including Wemby’s second-rank in defensive box plus-minus (plus-3.3), eight in rebound, and 24 games with at least five blocks, weren’t enough to get Shaq on board.

The 4x NBA champion took a grumpy tone soon after Jackson’s remark but was interrupted by Lefkoe: “170 to win 100, he is a big-time favorite second.” This was when the ‘Big Diesel’ slammed at the bench with: “That’s why you need that DraftKings Dummies book,” in a seeming ignorance of the young talent. 

The show is presented by DraftKings Sportsbook and the ‘Superman‘ is one of its brand ambassadors and has even promoted it saying: “Some people call me Shaq, but you can call me Mr.DraftKings.” With such a positive relation what could have tempted O’Neal to use the brand for a mockery? 

O’Neal and ‘The Alien’

The ‘Jersey #1’ who plays for the San Antonio Spurs averages 21.5 points with 3.8 assists. And his sophomore in the 2024-25 roster, he maintains the second-best ranking even though the two games tested his two positions (C and PF). Moreover, he has achieved 3 NBA Rookie of the Month and even went on to get an Olympic silver medal off the hard floor. Now it has become hard to guess why O’Neal ranked him as 31 in his top 50 list and is hard on the young champ!

Indeed ‘The Big Shamrock’ is impressed by the young talent as he said in The Pat McAfee Show once: “Wemby is a great player.” However, Shaquille O’Neal is critical of his lack of dominance: “But I don’t really think you can be dominant when you shoot jumpers a lot.” O’Neal wants the Spurs player to be dominant. 

Another aspect is that O’Neal’s attitude to young players aims at motivation as he says: “Same thing my father told me, ‘You’re good but not good enough.'” And he holds the opinion that playing hard on these new names makes them upset and inspire to work. “I hope this upsets him,” says the ex-Lakers champion with a determination to correct the Big Man Alliance.

Such insights give a rationale for Shaq’s mocking response at other NBA players when Victor Wembanyama’s name was recommended for DPOY. Hopefully, his strategy works positively on the rookie champion.