“Would Put Hakeem Up There”: JR Smith Dismisses Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘Pleas’ to be in the GOAT Debate

The never-ending GOAT debate is heating up yet again. No, there isn’t a new athlete knocking on the door to be included. It’s Shaquille O’Neal who believes that he should also be mentioned on the list alongside the usual suspects, Michael Jordan, the late, great Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.

During a conversation on First Things First, Shaq expressed his desire to be included in the GOAT debate as well. The four-time NBA Champion admitted that he doesn’t like being excluded from the GOAT conversation all the time.

Shaq said, “The greatest player of all time. Yeah, I wish I was in that conversation.”

However, JR Smith strongly disagreed with the big fella’s inclusion on the list. On an episode of Nightcap, Smith said that Shaq wouldn’t have belonged in the GOAT conversation even if had two more titles.

.@Chris_Broussard: “Would a 5th Title make LeBron the GOAT?”@SHAQ: “I want to hear all the contestants. You always hear LeBron, you always hear Jordan. Where’s my guy Kobe at?” pic.twitter.com/6OYixGYFta

— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) November 14, 2024

He said, “Me personally, I wouldn’t list him in the GOAT conversation.”

Smith believes that there are a few other big men who have accomplished more than Shaq and they rank higher than him on the list, “I would put Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] up there…I would put Hakeem [Olajuwon] up there. I wouldn’t put Shaq.”

The 39-year-old pointed out that Hakeem dominated Shaq and won two titles, two FMVPs, and two DPOY titles. This makes him have a better case than the Lakers legend on the list. Besides Jordan has six Finals MVPs compared to Shaq’s three.

So Smith really doesn’t see on what metric the big fells makes it on the list.

Interestingly, Shaq hasn’t always been interested in being a part of the GOAT debate. For a long time, he was comfortable being recognized as the most dominant player of all time.

Shaquille O’Neal on being the most dominant ever

During a conversation with JJ Redick on his podcast a while ago, Shaq was asked about his place in the GOAT debate. The 15-time All-Star said that unless his position is “definite” he doesn’t want it. He used examples like, MJ, Kobe, and LeBron being definite in the GOAT debate, and him being definite in the most dominant conversation to make his point.

Shaq said, “The most dominant category? I’m him. You only can say one other name [Wilt Chamberlain]. I don’t want to hear nobody else’s name. That’s why I wanted to pass him up in points.”

Although Shaq said that he’d like to be in the conversation for the GOAT title, if his position is questioned by many then he doesn’t want it. However, it seems like he has changed his stance on that more recently.