Refusing To Disrespect Shaquille O’Neal On National TV, Charles Barkley Gives His Take On Nikola Jokic’s Historical Standing

As the NBA playoffs rage on, so do the conversations about this era of players. Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal had a spirited debate on this evening’s edition of NBA on TNT. The subject? Whether Nikola Jokic was a Top 5 center in basketball history.

Shaq has never been shy of showering The Joker with love. Despite being a center himself, he’s previously called the 30-year-old Serbian one of the best centers of all time, claiming that his 2023 ring cemented his legacy. That wasn’t enough for Barkley, though, at least on this night. He and Kenny made a list on air of their Top 5 all-time NBA centers.

The first four of the list were pretty standard: Kareem, Wilt, Russell, and Shaq. This prompted The Diesel to guess, “and then him,” believing that Jokic would round the list off. “Nope. Stop it. Knock it off,” said Chuck. Adam Lefkoe jumped in. “What about Hakeem?” His guess was accurate, according to Barkley. “Thank you,” he responded.

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1916274283526996306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

While no list is wrong, Shaq explained that he loved Jokic and that he bases his picks off “what he sees” on the court.  “He is one of the most skilled basketball players that I’ve ever seen,” Chuck said in agreement. Barkley later clarified that even though he didn’t pick Jokic on his Top 5, he’s Top 10 easily.

Like a good friend, Chuck continued to hype up Shaq. “You’re one of the most physically gifted big men,” he stated with charm moments after stating that Jokic beats defenses more with his brains than his brawn. It’s safe to say everyone loves Jokic. But that doesn’t mean Shaq is not gonna always Shaq.

Shaq loves Nikola Jokic, but he thinks he would have eaten him up in his prime

Just because The Diesel is team Joker doesn’t mean he wouldn’t talk his trash to the big Serbian if he still played. Adam Lefkoe once asked Shaq what would happen his 2001 version would go toe to toe with a 2025 Jokic. His answer?

“Slovenian chicken, or wherever he’s from,” responded the Hall of Famer with confidence. He then claimed that he would drop 40 points on Jokic and that the Nuggets would have to double-team him.

2001 Shaq was a different animal. At 29 years old, he averaged 28 points per game and 12.7 rebounds. While averaging a season double-double is crazy, does it match up to 2025 Nikola Jokic averaging a triple-double? Guess that matchup will only be determined in a game of NBA 2K.

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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