Shaquille O’Neal believes that Stephen Curry is undoubtedly a top-10 player ever. But the 4-time champion would not take himself out of the top 10 to accommodate his favorite player.
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Stephen Curry has, in many ways, been the defining player in one of the most offensively-oriented basketball generations ever. NBA offenses have undertaken a heavy diet of 3-pointers due to the advent of game-changing weapons like him and Harden.
On top of that, his Warriors have been an all-time great dynasty over the past 9 seasons. Curry is still going strong despite touching the age of 35 a few weeks back.
Curry set the game 7 record for most points scored this weekend with a 50-point performance. This has reignited debates about his status in the top-10, and Shaq is one of those who’s chimed in.
Shaquille O’Neal affirms Stephen Curry as a top-10 player of all time
Shaquille O’Neal recently appeared on First Take alongside Stephen A Smith after the Warriors’ Game 7 win. The Lakers legend had his say about Steph’s top-10 OAT contention:
“There are so many great guys – guards, forwards, coming after us. Some guys have their own special category, that you can’t mess with. For example, when it comes to most dominant, Wilt and myself.”
“The GOAT – you got Kobe, LeBron and Mike. When it comes to the greatest shooter of all time, Steph Curry is in there by himself. So does that make him top 10? In my opinion, it does. I love the way he plays the game, great energy, great passion.”
But when Stephen A asked him who he’d take out of his top 10 – Hakeem, Tim Duncan, or even himself, Shaq went defensive:
“You know the top 10 list, it’s really quite difficult. I think you’ve gotta put them into categories – top 10 guards, top 10 forwards, top 10 centers.”
“Is he a top 10 player? Yeah. You’ve gotta take out somebody. You’re definitely not taking me out, you’ve gotta take out somebody else!”
Shaq and Steph are both prime top-10 candidates
Curry might legitimately be the greatest offensive weapon of all time – elite at every aspect of the game. The man warps and moves defenses with his off-ball movement, but is as capable of spamming pick-and-rolls to death.
Shaq, on the other hand, had the most dominant 3-year spell in NBA history for anyone barring Michael Jordan. He’s undoubtedly the greatest force we’ve seen since MJ. Taking him out of the top-10 would be sacrilegious for a lot of people as well.
All-in-all, both of them should be slotted squarely into the lower half of the top-10 at this point.
