Shannon Sharpe and Shaquille O’Neal started beefing no more than a few weeks ago. So, it’s obvious that they’re not on good terms. And now, Unc’s recent comment about the big fella not being the most dominant center ever can possibly make things even worse between them.
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On a recent episode of First Take, Sharpe was asked where he would rank Shaq among the top centers of all time. The NFL legend said that he can never put him ahead of two other Lakers legends.
Sharpe said, “I can’t put him in front of Kareem or Wilt.” He explained that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain were far better at the center position than Shaq. The former NFL man then took it further, claiming that people are wrong in their opinion if they believe Shaq is the most dominant center ever because that spot belongs to Wilt.
Fans know that the big fella takes immense pride in being the most dominant. In fact, it matters to him so much that he never even aimed to be the greatest ever as long as people addressed him as the most dominant.
Sharpe said that Wilt’s average in his career is something that Shaq never had, and the numbers tell us how dominant he was. He said,
“Wilt averaged 50 and 25. Wilt had another season in which he averaged 27 rebounds and 44 points. If you look at the three highest scoring average, the man averaged 30 points and 23 rebounds for a career.”
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Unc said that blocks weren’t recorded back then, otherwise, he would’ve had records for that too. “I got Kareem, one, Wilt, two, I got Shaq, three,” he ranked the three veterans on his list.
It remains to be seen how Shaquille O’Neal reacts to this blazing-hot take by Shannon. After all, the analyst is essentially stripping the Lakers legend of his beloved title. So, his response to it will likely not be the calmest one.
For now though, while Sharpe seems confident in his ranking as well as the reasoning behind it, Stephen A. Smith vehemently disagrees.
Stephen A. Smith makes a case for Shaquille O’Neal against Shannon Sharpe’s list
After Shannon Sharpe was done with his list, Stephen A. stepped up to have Shaq’s back in the discussion. However, he started off by saying that he wouldn’t completely discard Unc’s opinion as he made some valid points in his reasoning and put the list in a respectable order. He said, “Okay, I could live with that,” before making a case for the big fella.
Stephen A. said that going by Sharpe’s way of ranking the veterans, the great Bill Russell also deserves a spot on that list as he won 11 NBA titles in his career. He said,
“Where my issue with Wilt compared to Shaq comes in is that Wilt had a nemesis that got nine more titles straight up versus him in that era. Nobody would’ve done that to Shaq.”
So, if the conversation is about Wilt being more dominant than Shaq, Bill Russell poses a rather interesting question on this list as well. However, while this may seem like checkmate, it is extremely unlikely to cause Shannon Sharpe to relent on his take. And so, it may not be long at all before this beef escalates.
