“Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley Felt the Same Way”: Shaquille O’Neal Reveals Current Stars Don’t Justify Their Contracts Like He Did

Sports is big business, and it’s only getting bigger. TV rights deals are measured in the billions these days, with players often bringing in an excess of $50 million per year. That’s had the trickle-down effect of making it more expensive to be a sports fan. Few if any earn similar fortunes, yet they must fork over big money on increased ticket prices, multiple streaming services and prohibitively expensive team apparel. There’s a cognitive dissonance that diehard fans have to accept as they cheer on athletes who are in the .1% while in their day-to-day lives, they have to worry about the price of eggs.

NBA salaries especially have skyrocketed, but that doesn’t always mean that the most deserving players get the biggest piece of the pie. The salary cap limits how much a single player can earn, even if it is an astonishing amount, but that often means that a superstar like LeBron James or Steph Curry is paid on par with someone like Bradley Beal.

Shaquille O’Neal knows a thing or two about making money, but on a recent appearance on The Ashley Nevel Show, he quoted his Inside the NBA cohost Kenny Smith to explain his feelings about how today’s players are paid.

“Just ’cause you make a lot of money doesn’t mean you’re a great player,” Shaq paraphrased. He went on to say that on top of being overpaid, many of today’s players don’t have the right amount of deference and gratitude for the players who came before them, but there’s a simple solution.

“The way they should thank the people who’ve paved the way for them is to just be great. When I was coming up, I’m sure Michael Jordan and Barkley and those guys felt the same about me, because I was one of the first guys to get astronomical numbers that didn’t prove himself [yet].”

“I heard all the noise,” Shaq continued, “and I just said to myself, ‘OK, I will be inside the realm, and when it’s all over and done, I will definitely be in the building with you guys. And a lot of these guys don’t do that now.”

It’s somewhat unclear if Shaq just means that players today aren’t as good as those of his generation, or if there are other factors, like load management or today’s less physical style of play, that bother him.

It’s definitely shocking to see today’s salaries, where 26 players made more than $40 million this season, and compare them to when Shaq first entered the NBA. In his rookie year (1992-93), he made $3 million, which was the 16th-highest salary in the league. That was more than Barkley, who made $2.4 million. David Robinson was the league’s highest-paid player at that time at $5.7 million, and Jordan was next in line at $4 million.

There were overpaid guys in Shaq’s time too; it just doesn’t seem as egregious now because those old salary numbers pale in comparison to today’s. It’s also tougher than ever for the average person to be invested in the sport, whether that be by attending games or watching on TV. One thing is clear, though: With the new $76 billion broadcast rights deals going into effect later this year, that sticker shock isn’t ever going away.