Shaquille O’Neal knows a thing or two about greatness. At his peak, no player in the NBA could match him, and his accolades in basketball have very deservedly earned him a seat among the greatest athletes of all time. Recently, Shaq sat down with a bunch of people, including Tom Brady, to talk about what it takes to be a GOAT.
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Shaq and Brady were part of the G.O.A.T.S. Podcast ahead of the Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford fight. The two, who are supposed to go toe-to-toe on September 13th, were also present, as was Dana White. They all listened patiently as Shaq opined about what being the greatest of all time means.
Predictably and understandably, it means that they are in a class of their own. But growing him, while idolizing those very GOATs, Shaq never felt like he wanted to be like them. He wanted to surpass them.
“To me, the greatest of all time was always an elite, untouchable status,” he said. “When I was growing up, I was just watching players, and I always wanted to be like them. And then, my father told me something very interesting. He said, ‘Don’t be like them. Be better than them.”
“So, if you’re considered the GOAT, that means you are in an elite class and elite status,” the Los Angeles Lakers legend added, before turning to Brady. Shaq acknowledged that Brady was “definitely” the greatest of all time, and asked for his thoughts on the subject.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion replied by saying that the GOATs have a certain “aura” about themselves. Regardless of the sport, when the best walk into work, it worries everyone else competing against them. “They all know what’s going to happen,” Brady added. “Everyone to think at this level is, you’re talking about small margins of who’s a little bit better here or there. But there’s certain groups of people that stand above everybody else.”
Brady knows he falls into that category. Shaq probably does too. But when it comes to putting himself in the GOAT conversations, the Big Man isn’t too vocal. In fact, it’s a title that he’s never really craved.
Shaq wanted to be the most dominant
Just like the NFL, the NBA has seen its fair share of legends, players who rose to define entire eras of the game. Shaq was one of them. He was the man to beat during the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s. But he never wanted to be the “best basketball player in the world” per se. Shaq wanted to be remembered as the most dominant.
In a podcast from 2023, “Diesel” was talking about a pool of elite ballers like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant. But when his name got sprung up, he simply said, “I am not in that category. All these people are. I got my own category brother.”
His reasoning was surprisingly simple: “If I’m not the No. 1 guy, don’t bring me up.” Shaq acknowledged that most people don’t consider him the undisputed greatest, which is why he doesn’t want to be just one of the names on a list of the best. “You know what green berets are? That’s how I was trained. Ok? I’m not soft.”
If Shaq’s not the No. 1 guy, he doesn’t wanna hear it
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“We’ve all got a different category… Like me, I’m one of the most dominant. That’s my category. I’m not the best,” he added.
A unique perspective from one of the most unique NBA stars of all time. But in all reality, if there’s any player who deserves the category Shaq built for himself, it’s him. His size, power, and dominance in the paint were — and likely always will be — unmatched at this level.
