Shaquille O’Neal’s complaint about LeBron James making $250 million draws criticism from Michael Jordan’s teammate

Jeet Pukhrambam | 25/08/2022
Shaquille O'Neal is no stranger to voicing his opinion, even if it is about his former teammate LeBron James' huge $250 million paycheck!

Shaquille O’Neal is no stranger to voicing his opinion, even if it is about his former teammate LeBron James’ huge $250 million paycheck!

Shaquille O’Neal is no stranger to controversy. Throughout his life and career, he has never shied away from saying controversial statements. Whether it is about standing up for the poor, criticizing the best players, or just lambasting Charles Barkley, he has done it all.

So, when he talked about LeBron James callously, it incited some response from the NBA fraternity. Shaq had come out and said that since LeBron has made well over $250 million in his career he shouldn’t complain about playing 2 hours.

While he may have merits in his critique, former NBA player and teammate John Salley broke down the flaws in his criticism in an exquisite manner.

Also read: $400M worth Shaquille O’Neal recalls embarrassing situation involving filling son’s resume

John Salley talks about why soundbites fuel media careers including that of Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James

John Salley, if you didn’t know played in the best teams of the 1990s, literally. The Bad Boy Piston, Michael Jordan’s 72-10 Bulls, and Shaq and Kobe’s Lakers, Salley played in all of these teams. The result? He has four championships to his name.

So when he heard about Shaq’s comments, he spoke out. As per John, it makes sense for Shaq to be saying these things on TV because of the soundbite nature of media.

Anything he says can be taken out of context but the derivative is that Shaq’s statements become soundbites that can help propel his stature. Any publicity is good publicity they say.

Salley adds his opinion, he says Shaq shouldn’t mention the money because then we tend to judge the player based on his worth rather than his merit. That does not justify what he has done and instead points the finger on the money he has been paid.

We agree with John on this matter. Shaq’s comments while critical came from a good place and a lack of introspection. Not that this makes him a bad person, in fact, O’Neal helped out Salley when he was broke.

Also read: Shaquille O’Neal’s $400 million fortune isn’t enough to buy him any car, he wants 8 inches of space between seats

Post Edited By: Jeet Pukhrambam
John Salley LeBron James Michael Jordan NBA Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Jeet Pukhrambam

Jeet Pukhrambam is The SportsRush's Lead Editor for Basketball. After freelancing for five years as an independent writer, Jeet created thousands of blog posts and articles. He now covers intriguing news reports and throwback stories on all things NBA. His interest in NBA started with the ascendancy of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2016-17 season. Since then, Jeet has managed to coalesce his knowledge of the game and his writing to create pieces that are reflective of the current state of the league. Now, he ensures that The SportsRush produces the highest quality of writing. In his free time, he enjoys playing football, cooking, traveling, and dancing to techno. Jeet takes pride in his critical thinking, music playlists, and his love for spaghetti.

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