“I’m jealous of guys like Tom Brady and Michael Jordan, but at least I have a book”: Shaquille O’Neal admits he’s a little envious of the NFL and NBA GOATs as his 4 rings pale in comparison

Tom Brady

Shaquille O’Neal definitely had a Hall of Fame worthy career, but when he looks at Tom Brady and Michael Jordan, he feels like he underwhelmed.

Brady’s retirement is still relatively fresh in the NFL world. We had the Super Bowl to distract us for the time being, but now the fact that the game’s greatest quarterback is gone is really sinking in.

Brady left quite the mark on the league, especially for a sixth round draft pick. He won seven Super Bowls to wrap up his career, more than any other NFL franchise and holds a number of passing records that nobody is set to touch for a good while. His career is comparable to Michael Jordan when it comes to how dominant and how successful he was.

Players and fans around the league are still hopeful that Brady will soon revert his decision and decide to run it back one more time, something he’s personally left the door open for as well.

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Shaquille O’Neal stacks up his career against Tom Brady and Michael Jordan

When legends of the game retire, it’s always a tough pill to swallow. These athletes have given us so much to cheer for over the years, and seeing them gone definitely feels weird. The league simply is different.

It was the same when Michael Jordan left the NBA for good in 2003. He retired with six championships, leading the most dominant team in NBA history across a 10 year stretch as the Bulls ‘three-peated’ twice in the 1990s.

Jordan’s accolades and success left him atop the NBA mountain much like Brady is now. Shaq had the opportunity to both play  against Jordan, and when he retired from the game, he also left a huge void in the league.

However, with Brady’s news recently, the legendary center was a little reminiscent on how his career went, and admitted that while he had four rings, it definitely wasn’t anything compared to Brady or Jordan.

He said, “At some point, you have to give it up, and also for guys like us, we want to be able to look at our book and say, ‘I have a hell of a book’. Like my book is okay. I got four rings. But his book, him and Jordan, guys like Magic and Bill Russell, they have like unbelievable books. I went to the finals ten times. Won eight, so I mean, I kinda wish my book was like that. I’m jealous of guys like Tom and Michael, but at least I have a book.”

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
Michael Jordan NBA NFL Shaquille O'Neal Tom Brady

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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