The NBA fans have lately been looking to move past the glory of the 90s decade to accept the emergence of a new era of the league. While Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson might have paved the way for the current generation of players, fans are eager to look past them and place some of today’s best players in their Top 3 conversations. Shaquille O’Neal recently hopped on an interview with ‘Yahoo! Sports’ and dissected the logic behind the memes around Jordan, Magic, and the other stars from the 90s.
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Shaquille O’Neal grew up around the time when Michael Jordan emerged as the face of the league. Of course, he might have his reservations about the ’80s and the ’90s decade. However, he finds it funny how the latest meme trends troll MJ for not having a left hand and Magic Johnson for not knowing what he is doing. Giving his two cents on the trend, the Big Fella said,
“It’s cute, but it’s natural. But let me tell you why it’s natural. They always compared me to Wilt Chamberlain, I am looking at his 70s highlights like I would have killed this guy. So, it’s just normal stuff. The stuff that we see in 2024 is way more advanced than the stuff we’ve seen in the 90s. So, if you’re a guy especially on social media, all you see is 2024, 2024, 2024, and then you see the 90s, you’re definitely not going to be impressed by the 1990.”
Shaq added how he wasn’t impressed by the skills and moves of his contemporaries Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and Wilt Chamberlain’s footages. He believed he had redefined the role of a dominant center by moving past the books of a traditional centerpiece set by his contemporaries.
In today’s era, Shaq said that he hardly can remember anyone from the 90s and would only think about Stephen Curry or Anthony Edwards dominating the league. However, he truly believed that modern-day centers such as Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid could definitely not exceed the standards he had set during his time in the NBA. Shaq described his elaborate play of stopping the Joker from shooting threes, which sounds on-brand for the Big Aristotle.
Nevertheless, as Shaq puts it, discarding the contributions of the previous generation has always been a trend in the league. The league has been continuously evolving in its way of playing the game, with future generations carrying the baton forward of the legends who had paved the way for this precedent.
The ‘We done with the 90s’ meme is one of the hottest trends on NBA X
The internet seems to have waged an open revolt against the level of play during the 90s decade. The young fans are currently engaged in a new discourse of discrediting the bygone era, claiming that the quality of basketball was sub-par in the 90s compared to today’s era of basketball. The trend emerged from TikTok when a user showcased the plays of MJ and Magic Johnson in the 1991 NBA Finals, calling that era overrated.
The new generation is pushing to place Stephen Curry and LeBron James as their Top 3 all-time players in the league. Some users also claim that Jordan was never a Top 3 player compared to the league’s current level.
Perhaps this discourse was best described by Shaq, who called this trend ‘a phase.’ Every new generation tends to dismiss the older generation in favor of the new one. Sure, the league did evolve to become much more advanced and technical than the previous years. However, it would be foolish not to acknowledge the influence and pathway paved by the legends, who have helped the NBA reach the level where it is at the moment.
