Few in NBA history have been as confident about themselves as Shaquille O’Neal, and with good reason. Ask him about being paired against the stars of today, and Shaq would still claim he would come out on top. But what if his matchup is against a player who is as dominant in the paint as he was in his prime?
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In a podcast with Ausamerican Aces, Shaq was asked about Nikola Jokic, a three-time MVP, who has revolutionized the way seven-footers play. Not only is he a great rebounder, but he’s also an elite playmaker, with one of the highest basketball IQs out there.
Shaq, however, has always been adamant about the fact that he’s the best big man to ever be in the NBA. He went as far as claiming he’s the President of the ‘Big Man Alliance’. Keeping that in mind, he had a measured answer as to what his stat line would look like if he played against Jokic.
To start, O’Neal simply said that he would score as much as he would in any other game. But perhaps, he realized that it was a bizarre answer, since the Serbian wasn’t just ‘any other’ player. He, too, is one of the best to ever step foot into an NBA hardcourt.
“Playoffs, I would probably be 40, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks,” said Shaq. “You know… he’s a different player. I probably wouldn’t have stopped him either, because they [the Denver Nuggets] definitely would have run pick and roll. I would have to go off on him, and then we would get back, he would have shot a lot of jumpers.”
That’s one area where Jokic overshadows Shaq comfortably. The Diesel was known for a lot of things, but not his shooting, and it’s something the Joker excels at. That said, defensively, Jokic wouldn’t be as impactful as Shaq, as the Los Angeles Lakers legend further stated.
“Hopefully he’s not going to be in the game a lot, because first 10 possessions I am going at him. He’s either going to have to foul me or double me. So, if he fouls me two or three times, he would definitely be on the bench.”
“He [Jokic] would probably average 27, 30, because he’s a great shooter… If he was a post player and I would have had to focus just on him, then, he wouldn’t get that much,” Shaq added, before recalling how the Nuggets star struggled when put up against Dwight Howard back in the day. “But him guarding me? I am averaging 40.”
This was a far more respectful response to the same question than the one asked earlier this year, when Shaq referred to Jokic as a “Slovenian Chicken,” which was both an insult and factually incorrect, since he is from Serbia.
The stat line, however, was the same. Shaq had declared he would score 40 points and that he would attempt far more two-pointers than Jokic would attempt three-pointers. So, his stance hasn’t changed, but the way he answers has.
