A fun game that podcasters love playing with athletes is asking them about hypotheticals. These wild, fictitious scenarios center around questions like, “What if John Elway was on the Giants?” or “Could you have won a title in a different era?” Well, Shaquille O’Neal, on Off The Record, had to deal with something similar.
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O’Neal, as always, delivered a very interesting sound bite. Bailey Jackson, the host of Off The Record, asked if he could replace any of his teammates with any other NBA player in history who played the same position, who would it be, and why?
It’s one of those great hypothetical questions that usually calls for a well-thought-out answer. Shaq, however, had his locked and loaded.
“I’d go with Mike for Kobe,” he stated. “Trying to win championships. Ring culture. Would love to play with Mike. To learn from him.”
If there was ever anyone who could have taken Kobe’s spot, it would have been Michael Jordan. It’s a bold answer, and one that sparks some fun, imaginative thinking. How cool would it have been to see Jordan backing someone down, only to dish it up for an alley-oop to Shaq?
That said, let’s not twist this into a narrative about how Shaq feels about Kobe. He told Jackson earlier in the episode that he wouldn’t have won three NBA titles as a Laker without Bryant. “The man is vital to my three championships,” Shaq declared.
“Vital. I didn’t do it by myself. Vital. Some parts of the series are more vital than me. I did what I had to do, but if he don’t do what he had to do, would we have three? Never know.”
Ever since the Mamba’s tragic passing in 2020, O’Neal has made it a point to remind the world that any beef between them had long been buried. And he’s right. Without Bryant, maybe Shaq gets one ring in LA, but Kobe’s performances, especially during the 2000 Finals against the Indiana Pacers, were nothing short of elite.
Jordan wasn’t the only answer Shaq gave, either. “Get rid of Penny and give me Magic Johnson because he was fancy with it and I like being on D,” stated the 53-year-old legend. As great as Penny and O’Neal were, a Diesel and Magic duo would have been nothing short of a cheat code.
Magic’s fast-paced playmaking would have given Shaq even more opportunities to dominate, especially in those early days with the Orlando Magic when he was a walking physical god.
Having Magic at the helm likely would have kept that entire team more focused. They could have easily won a ring or two instead of becoming one of the biggest “What Ifs” in NBA history.
Games like this are always fun to play because they push the person being asked to think creatively. Fortunately, few athletes in the world have the kind of abrupt honesty that Shaq does. It’s always refreshing to hear, because you’re not listening to the rantings of an old has-been. You’re hearing from one of the greatest players of all time, and his opinion carries real weight.
