Shaquille O’Neal is undoubtedly one of the best players in NBA history. However, his legacy does not compare to that of Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
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Both His Airness and King James are consistently mentioned when discussing the GOAT of professional basketball. Given their resumes, it comes as no surprise.
Even Shaq has to agree that the debate comes down to those two. To the point, where the Hall of Famer has openly admitted to being jealous.
Shaquille O’Neal admits to being jealous of Michael Jordan and LeBron James
Recently, LeBron James made waves as he once again reaffirmed his position in the GOAT debate. The man surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer in NBA history.
Following this, The King humbly stated that he would leave it to the media and the fans to decide who is the greatest. Him or Michael Jordan. Weighing in on the same, Shaquille O’Neal admitted to being jealous of James.
“It was a professional jealousy moment. If it was me, I would have been arrogant for 19 seconds… I know he is a humble kid, and I know he is going to give the answer, ‘I don’t want to be involved in the debate of who is the greatest,’ I am jealous of having the conversation… It is nice to be ‘Who’s the greatest? Him, or him?’ Everybody would love to be in that position.”
Shaq says it was a “a professional jealousy moment” seeing LeBron James break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record. https://t.co/2nMfZCnQkO
— ExtraTV (@extratv) February 13, 2023
It’s hard not to agree with Shaq. After all, who wouldn’t want to be considered the greatest in their field?
Shaq is happy to be labeled as one of the most dominant players of all time
He may not be in the GOAT debate, but Diesel is fine with that at the end of the day. He himself has admitted that he would much rather be one of the most “dominant” players of all time rather than one of the top five players of all time.
If Shaq’s not the No. 1 guy, he doesn’t wanna hear it 👀
🎙 The Big Podcast | https://t.co/mEZsI2xUvx pic.twitter.com/iR9r0y5kHh
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 12, 2023
You can’t blame Shaq. But, there are a lot of people who wouldn’t mind being a dominant superstar like he was.