“NBA Players In The 50s Were Plumbers”: Shaquille O’Neal Shares Controversial Take On Basketball From 70 Years Ago

Akash Murty | 21/06/2023
"NBA Players In The 50s Were Plumbers": Shaquille O'Neal Shares Controversial Take On Basketball From 70 Years Ago

Shaquille O’Neal is pretty vocal man. We have been witnessing it from his playing days in the NBA to his transition to Inside the NBA. You can also see it in the content he posts on his social media channels. He isn’t afraid of controversies. The player-turned-analyst has always talked about the league becoming too soft and easy to play in the past 10 years or so. Now, he is advocating the arguments of players from 70 years ago being plumbers.

It’s not like O’Neal has been disrespectful toward players from previous eras as he has been with today’s players. In fact, sometimes he even puts Wilt Chamberlain ahead of him as “the most dominant” because of their difference in the all-time scoring leaderboard. However, he went off the rails recently.

Shaquille O’Neal shares the controversial take on players from the 70s being plumbers

In a recent Instagram story of his, Shaquille O’Neal posted an extreme belief that disrespects the NBA players of the 50s. It suggests that players from 70 years ago cannot hold up their own against the modern players because they were just “plumbers”.

In the hilarious clip by the page “Fool Talks Sports” on Instagram, the narrator starts by arguing against the narrative that “NBA players in the 50s were plumbers” but concludes by saying that they actually were.

 

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A post shared by The Fool (@fooltalkssports)

Here’s “tragicpatek” sharing what Shaq posted on his IG via Twitter.

We wonder what might have led Shaq to change his stance because he was against JJ Redick when he said the same.

JJ Redick called the players from 1950s plumbers and Shaq opposed it

Last year, JJ Redick’s comments about Bob Cousy playing against ‘plumbers and firemen’ caught a lot of heat from former players including Jerry West, who is one of the strongest pillars of the NBA.

Even Shaq agreed with West and told JJ to shut up because he supposedly doesn’t have the G-14 classification to say so.

“Stop it. Jerry West was correct. JJ ain’t got enough G-14 Classifications to speak on the greats. And you can tell him I said that.” said O’Neal on Instagram.

By G-14 Shaq meant Redick hadn’t achieved enough in his career to disrespect the legends. Looks like O’Neal finds himself classified enough to walk back on his takes and disrespect any basketball player, irrespective of the era.

Post Edited By: Jeet Pukhrambam
Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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