The NBA is a league full of talented players who have worked their way to get to where they are. Within the league itself, there are several categories of players. You have the bench players, the role players, the starters, the stars, the superstars, and then come the once-in-a-lifetime talents. Shaquille O’Neal belonged to the latter category.
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The Big Diesel played for 19 seasons in the NBA, during which time he won four championships, three Finals MVPs, one regular season MVP, and much more. He’s known as one of the best big men the league has ever seen and is generally considered a Top-10 player of All-Time.
As the big man himself has said many times, he’s one of the most dominant players the league has ever seen, if not the most dominant. While talking on a podcast recently, Shaq shared how he is bothered when people throw ‘dominant’ around.
Shaquille O’Neal expresses anguish over usage of ‘dominant’
Shaquille O’Neal is the type of person who will always let you know what’s going on in his head. He doesn’t filter his thoughts, and that is one of the things people love about him. Recently, he made his way to the Players Choice Podcast. There, he talked about how Michael Jordan was just perfection, likened himself to Stephen Curry, and more.
The big man was asked which player in the current NBA resembles his playing style, mentality, or maybe business sense. Shaq didn’t think twice and nodded his head. He said,
“Not really, the game is differnet. The era is differnet. They way they play is different. That’s why I get upset when you guys throw the word dominant around. Like I did what I did with 3/4 people on me every night. Just because a guy is putting up certain points or doing whatever, or bullying people around, it ain’t make them bad. Jermaine told me the other day that I gotta stop comparing everybody to my league and my era. Maybe I have to loosen up a little bit. Me, more dominant than me? Nah.”
That is true. While we have guys who have been dominating the league, and the paint, there is none who comes close to the great Shaquille O’Neal. Although, Shaq once did say that Giannis Antetokounmpo is today’s version of himself. I guess the surgery recovery meds might have made the big man a little confused.
Shaq is recovering from a hip replacement surgery
Shaquille O’Neal recently turned 51. The week before his birthday, Shaq revealed on The Big Podcast that he would be getting hip-replacement surgery on March 15th. I guess everything went according to plan, as we saw him put a tweet in a hospital gown not too far after that date.
The big man seems to be making a good recovery and won’t miss much time on TNT, as the crew is currently busy hosting March Madness. It’s been too long since we saw him on TV, and it was good to see him back on podcasts.
