Shaquille O’Neal has often talked about being the most dominant player of all time. On this matter, Matt Barnes, who was with O’Neal for a season, recently made comments that would make the big fella beyond proud. The 2017 NBA champion went on to Podcast P with Paul George and opined that O’Neal is the most dominant player to hit the hardwood. Often Wilt Chamberlain is compared to Shaq as the most dominant player of all time. However, as per Barnes, Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain played in an inferior era and didn’t go up against top Centers like O’Neal on a nightly basis.
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“To me, he’s the most dominant player ever and I say that with all due respect to Wilt cuz I felt like he played in an era where there were more bigs night to night and the competition was higher, I mean Shaq in his prime you couldn’t do nothing with Shaq,” Matt Barnes told Paul George and Co.
Barnes lauded the fact that the former Lakers big could thrive despite his inability to shoot. Having seen Shaq up close during his prime, the former UCLA athlete knew the “mean” playing style of ‘The Diesel’. While being a huge admirer of his on-the-court talents, Barnes is also fond of Shaq’s off-the-court personality. He alluded to his knack for “looking out” for people and being a “good dude”.
Podcast host, Paul George labeled O’Neal’s personality as “larger than life”. Therefore, Shaq’s on-court and off-court personalities couldn’t be more inverse.
As for the big fella himself, he wanted to be recognized as the most destructive player to hit the NBA floor. Unfortunately, he couldn’t register a milestone that he believed would have cemented his position as the most dominant ever.
Shaquille O’Neal desired to shoot down Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring numbers
In 2023, during Ahmad Rashad’s “NBA Rewind” show, Shaquille O’Neal talked about falling 2,823 points short of Wilt Chamberlain’s career total points. ‘The Big Dipper’ had 31419 points in 1,045 games at 30.1 pointers per game. Meanwhile, The Big Aristotle captured 28,596 points in 1207 games at a career average of 23.7 points per game, per Statmuse. Despite playing more games, he couldn’t eclipse the 2x NBA champion. While Chamberlain spent 14 seasons in the NBA, Shaq had 19 of them. However, the latter missed a ton of games, many of them in his prime where he could have put up big-time numbers.
I have said it myself that I have missed 250 games, averaging 25 points, thats 5,000 points right there. If I didnt miss those games, I would have passed Wilt Chamberlain up and I would have arrogantly said – ‘I am the most dominant player ever. I do not want to hear anybody’s name’. But for now I will allow people to say two of the most dominant players are Wilt and Shaq. But I wanted to pass him up so bad,” Shaquille O’Neal told Ahmad Rashad
While the 3x Finals MVP wanted to have a total points case for the “most dominant tag ever” since the beginning of his career, he doesn’t shy away from reminding fans about the same. Unlike Chamberlain, whose in-game footage is scant, the internet is flooded with O’Neal’s rim-destroying highlights. Therefore, his memory is more vividly etched in the modern era of the NBA which helps his case.
