The NBA is an ever-evolving league with 60 new players getting drafted each year. Each year, 60 new players come into the league, each with their skill sets and talents. However, some players make their mark on the game in a manner that cannot be forgotten. Shaquille O’Neal is one of them. Arguably the most dominant big man in the game, Shaq was a force to be reckoned with.
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Shaq won four titles in his 19-year career, and over the course of his career, played with and against some of the best players in league history. He was the last player to have eliminated Michael Jordan in the playoffs. He was teammates with Kobe Bryant for eight years. Shaq played with LeBron James for a year at Cleveland.
The big man had an impressive list of people, so when he was asked to pick the GOAT, his answer actually had reasoning from past experiences.
Shaquille O’Neal picked Michael Jordan as the GOAT
When it comes to picking the greatest player of all time for any sport, there are a lot of things that go into consideration. First, it’s not easy to pick a single player, because the sport evolves as the years go on, and the criteria keeps changing.
However, people manage to find ways to compare players. The biggest debate as of now is between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. When Shaquille O’Neal was asked to pick the GOAT, this is what he said,
“First of all, I don’t like choosing because I know all of these guys. But for me, I’ve seen Mike(Michael Jordan) do some things that I’ve never seen either other guys do. Mike used to tell the pawns what is he gonna do and how he was gonna do it. And the way he did it, he won six without a dominant big man. The way he did it, won three, took a year off, played baseball, played golf, came back and won three more!”
Shaq makes excellent points. MJ used to tell his opponents what he would do and how would he do it, and yet they couldn’t stop him.
Can LeBron James surpass MJ as the GOAT?
Shaquille O’Neal himself has been very conflicted about this question. Back in 2020, he believed that if LeBron crossed Kareen Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record, he would solidify his place as the GOAT.
However, earlier in 2022, O’Neal contradicted himself and said that even if LeBron surpasses Kareem, he still wouldn’t surpass MJ as the GOAT.
I mean, if a great like Shaq can’t make up his mind, how can we be expected to do so? In my opinion, we should hold off on the GOAT debate till LBJ hangs up his boots and we have his complete resume.
