The GOAT debate, part and parcel of any sport, always seems to spark hostility in the NBA. Is it Michael Jordan? LeBron James? Or Kobe Bryant? One thing is certain: Several players have a legitimate claim to be in the conversation. Wilt Chamberlain, however, is not one of them, insists Shaquille O’Neal.
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The four-time NBA champion has never put his name on that list. Shaq has stated several times in the past that he never wanted to be the best player in the NBA. He just wanted to be the most dominant.
However, Shaq’s unique version of humility hasn’t stopped him from making bold claims about who the true GOAT candidates are. He brought this up on the latest edition of his Big Podcast, which featured Markieff and Marcus Morris.
While the group was discussing players like Stephen Curry as potential candidates, the moment Chamberlain’s name came up, O’Neal didn’t hesitate to shut it down. “Naw, I don’t think so,” he said.
Co-host Adam Lefkoe asked why. “He only had two,” stated the Diesel, referring to the Big Dipper winning only two NBA Championships. Shaq could have critiqued Chamberlain’s style of play, but instead, he leaned on ‘ring culture’ to make his point.
That didn’t sit well with Markieff, who defended Wilt and other NBA greats as all-time players, regardless of how many titles they won.
“Just winning anyway is hard to do,” Markieff stated. “For somebody to win two, I don’t think it’s like, ‘Yeah, he ain’t win enough.’ He won two; that’s enough. Some people can’t win at all.”
‘Ring culture’ has been a hot topic in the NBA community this offseason, and fans remain divided. One side believes that championships are the ultimate measure of greatness, while the other argues that legends like Charles Barkley are still all-time greats despite never winning a ring.
Shaq, however, had his reasons for questioning Wilt’s GOAT status by using that very metric. “Yeah, but we’re talking the greatest of all time,” he said, before dropping his list onto the group. “Mine is Mike, LeBron, and Kobe.”
That’s a solid top three, and it’s hard to argue with Shaq, considering those three men have a combined 15 NBA championships between them. The thing is, if greatness were based solely on titles, then Bill Russell would sit firmly at the top.
Any debate about different eras or different times goes out the window. Russell won 11, more than anyone else.
As for Wilt, O’Neal had once acknowledged him as an all-time great, particularly for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, he ranked him behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and himself. “Kareem, me, then Wilt. I’m better than Wilt. I’d bust Wilt’s a**,” he had declared on Inside the NBA.
That said, Shaq does consider Chamberlain to be in the same echelon as himself. “Most dominant in my opinion are only two, myself and Wilt,” he said in an old interview.
So while Shaq never backs down from a debate, he clearly respects the man who once scored 100 points in a single game.
