Shaquille O’Neal, Who Calls Himself ‘Most Dominant Ever’, Cryptically Hails Michael Jordan as the GOAT over LeBron James

Shaquille O’Neal is not a man who’d normally wince his words about the GOAT debate. His latest Instagram story about Michael Jordan confirms his position.

GOAT debates in basketball have become this tired, played-out trope used to spice up sports talk television. Everyone and their mothers under the moon have had a say in this over the past 7 years.

With the way things stand with LeBron James‘ career right now, there isn’t much he can do to convince more people about his candidature. He might win another championship (even this year), but Jordan fans will still be going on about his 6 rings.

The generation that played before James will tend to favor Jordan, and later generations will adore LeBron. That’s about as much of a reasonable split as we could hope for in this debate.

Shaquille O’Neal voices his opinion on Michael Jordan as the GOAT

One of the retired basketball talking heads who love to bring up these all-time rankings is Shaquille O’Neal. His social media is filled with these comparisons and analyses of the achievements of basketball greats.

He often likes to comment on whether hypothetical teams comprising him will do better against teams without him. He’s not afraid to express his opinion and often stands his ground to defend it as well.

His latest Instagram story is a long-winding defense of MJ’s GOAT status, expressed in tweet form.

https://t.co/9AATZlxkvj pic.twitter.com/BgCV4kxgpZ

— Amulya Shekhar (@tweet_amulya) May 11, 2023

As you can see, he presents a case that Jordan has perhaps the most well-rounded CV for GOAT status in basketball history. The individual accolades, the records, the championships, the recognition, the competitive drive – Mike had it all.

This isn’t anything new from Shaq, who’s often anointed his predecessor as the de facto GOAT of the spot. Shaq also often brings Kobe Bryant into these GOAT discussions.

Shaq was ‘the most dominant ever’

Based on evidence from those who watched during his heyday, O’Neal is the greatest athletic freak we’ve ever seen. A 7’1″ 330 pound man should not be able to move with the ease and grace that O’Neal displayed.

He made it so that NBA backboards had to be redesigned to take his weight. Shaq also made teams draft unathletic 7-footers for years just so they could rack up 6 fouls against him.

Simply put, nobody dominated the NBA more than the Lakers legend in his prime. And for those reasons, it doesn’t feel corny when Shaq calls himself the ‘Most Dominant Ever’.

SHAQ – The Most Dominant, Destructive & Disrespectful Dunker Ever! pic.twitter.com/iUemA9OzDt

— David Astramskas (@redapples) March 6, 2020