“Charles Barkley didn’t get to the mountain top and doesn’t know what it takes”: Shaquille O’Neal defends his excessive use of how many rings he has when arguing with the Suns legend

Shaquille O’Neal throw shade at Charles Barkley for not having any rings and thus, he doesn’t know what it takes to get to the mountain top. 

Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley have been at odds with one another for well over a decade. Taking it back to the 1990s, the two even had a physical altercation with one another in 1999 but later patched things up with one another after both their mothers got involved and told them to make things right. 

Fast-forward 22 years later and they’ve elevated themselves from physical confrontations on the court to verbal disputes off it. Shaquille O’Neal shares the limelight with Charles Barkley on NBAonTNT and the two constantly butt heads with one another on topics that revolve around players in the league today.

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Their arguments however, usually delve into Shaq exclaiming that he has 4 championships to Chuck’s none while the latter tries to tell the Lakers legend that him having that many rings over him has nothing to do with their conversation. 

Shaquille O’Neal defends him saying that he has many more rings that Charles Barkley on NBAonTNT. 

Charles Barkley went on the ‘Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend’ podcast early last year and talked about how Shaquille O’Neal constantly brings up the fact that he has no rings, when it’s in no way related to the debate they’re having. Shaq responded to Chuck 14 months later on the same podcast and told Conan: 

“Charles is a great player, one of the top 50 greatest of all time but, he really doesn’t know what it takes to get to that next level and that’s why I tell him, ‘You’re over here yelling and screaming and you think your word is the law but no, you didn’t get to the mountain top.’ Not only was I at the mountain top, but I was king of the mountain top.” 

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Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley will be at odds with one another for as long as basketball exists but it shouldn’t take away from the fact that the two are in fact, great friends. After all, they’re mothers have been friends for decades.