Decades After Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Expressed ‘Concerns’ Over Shaquille O’Neal’s $120,000,000 Contract, Shaq Shows Love To 6x Champ’s MVP Collection

LA Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal regularly uses Instagram to signal his opinion on various NBA trends. Recently, Shaq posted a graphic commending Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a fellow Lakers legend, for his 6 MVP titles. The post comes despite the fact that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once questioned the Lakers’ decision to offer Shaq a 7-year, $120,000,000 deal.

Despite acknowledging O’Neal’s obvious talent, Kareem was unsure whether the Lakers had enough to land championships. According to Kareem’s Insider Secrets from Episodes 5 and 6 of “Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers“, he believed that Kobe Bryant’s presence was “key” to landing further championships after the Lakers’ triumph in the 2000 season.  O’Neal’s 1996 contract eventually proved to be highly beneficial for the Lakers. After winning the 2000 Championship, they went on to win another 2 back-to-back championships to make it a hat-trick of titles.

Shaquille O’Neal celebrates Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 6 MVP titles on Instagram

Shaq posted a statistic showing the NBA legends who had won the most MVP titles in the league’s history. Kareem was followed by the likes of Bill Russell and Michael Jordan, who finished their careers with 5 MVP titles each.

The Warriors’ Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James were 3^rd and 4^th on the list, with 4 MVP titles each. The likes of Moses Malone, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson rounded off the rest of the list, with 3 MVP titles each.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is widely regarded as the most dominant center the NBA ever saw. While Shaq himself is regarded as one of the most dominant players ever, his beef with Kareem started off when he was a youngster.

Shaq shows love to Kareem being the first in number of MVPs in NBA history pic.twitter.com/4IQkHc8Pp9

— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) August 12, 2023

It led to Kareem claiming in 2000 that Shaq wasn’t enough to land championships for the Lakers, despite the $120,000,000, 7-year deal. He claimed that his former team needed a range of other key players, and expressed gratitude at Kobe Bryant’s presence. Of course, Kareem was eventually proven right as the Lakers added 2 more titles in the seasons that followed.

O’Neal believed Steve Nash’s 2 MVP titles belonged to him

In both the 2004 and 2005 NBA seasons, it was the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash who emerged as the MVP over Shaquille O’Neal. Now playing for the Miami Heat, Shaq had outscored and out-rebounded Nash and believed that he deserved the two awards.

O’Neal claimed that he could accept it if Nash had won the MVP once. However, he claimed that it was unfair for him to be left with just one MVP award, which he won in 2000.

O’Neal was obviously of the opinion that he deserved to finish in the top-5 when it came to MVP titles. While he was able to win another championship with the Heat in 2006, his regret over the individual awards was apparent.