It is no secret that LA Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal considers Michael Jordan to be the greatest NBA player of all time. Shaq has claimed multiple times that he considers MJ to be the greatest ever and regularly uses his social media to reaffirm his point. O’Neal did something similar recently on Instagram, posting an image of some of Jordan’s greatest achievements. The 51-year-old posted a total of “21 reasons” to once again reiterate his claim.
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The post comes just months after O’Neal had claimed that he and MJ would have dominated everyone had they teamed up. Overall, O’Neal regularly posts about the Chicago Bulls legend. In June 2023, he put up a list of the greatest rookie scorers ever seen in the NBA. While Jordan ranked 1st, he himself ranked 7th in the list.
Shaquille O’Neal posts “21 reasons” why Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time
O’Neal posted a rather detailed list of Michael Jordan’s achievements. Right from his 6 Finals MVPs to various scoring records, MJ’s long list of honors gives a lot of weight to his GOAT status.
The list was titled “What made Michael Jordan the greatest of all time?” Apart from his offensive achievements, Jordan’s various defensive honors including his 9 all-defensive appearances as well as individual stat records also stood out.
Despite a range of fans and analysts having their say on the GOAT debate, Shaq has been clear with his pick. He has always considered Michael Jordan the greatest player of all time, and his social media activity stands testament to that.
While the two never got to play together, there is little doubt that Shaq and MJ could have been a legendary duo. The two’s strengths were arguably complementary and would have wreaked havoc for most teams in the NBA.
Shaquille O’Neal was motivated by MJ’s take on success
Michael Jordan had once famously claimed that he was more of a failure, than a success. It was his ability to stand up and continue fighting and giving his best that helped him eventually succeed. Jordan had claimed that he missed more than 9000 shots in his career:
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot — and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Speaking in a live Q&A session, O’Neal had given a similar take on the importance of failures. He claimed that it was his ability to keep trying different things each time he failed that eventually allowed him to be as great as he was. There is little doubt that despite far different playing styles, MJ and Shaq had a similar winning mentality.
