Shaquille O'Neal throws massive shade at Rudy Gobert; Gobert responds
Former Los Angeles Lakers superstar and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal is never reluctant to express his opinions, even if they will ruffle people's feathers. Quite often, that's exactly what his words do to the basketball world.
Recently, he was asked who he thinks is the worst NBA player of all time, and he said it's Rudy Gobert, with Ben Simmons getting some honorable mention. The center said he picked Gobert because Gobert hasn't come close to earning the contract he signed.
"If you sign a contract for 250 [million], show me 250," said O'Neal. "There's a reason I walk funny, why I can't turn my neck and why I can't do it because I played for my 120 [million]. So you got guys like him that [expletive] the system over there making all this money and they can't [expletive] play."
In late 2020, Gobert signed a five-year, $205 million contract extension, and in the summer of 2022, he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for five players and five first-round draft picks. While the Timberwolves made the Western Conference Finals this past season, many have taken Gobert to task for being somewhat of a liability come playoff time because of his limitations on both ends of the floor.
The France native responded to O'Neal on social media with a bit of diplomacy.
"It is sad to see someone that has accomplished as much as you did @SHAQ both in sport and business still be triggered by another man’s finances and accomplishments," Gobert wrote. "I get the entertainment part but unlike other folks, you don’t need that stuff to stay relevant."
O'Neal, who won three straight NBA championships along with the late great Kobe Bryant on the Lakers, has a history of throwing shade at some of this era's big men, including Dwight Howard, who had three separate stints with the Purple and Gold. At the same time, during O'Neal's early years with L.A., he was criticized by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain, two other great Lakers centers, so perhaps this is something of a franchise tradition of sorts.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Shaquille O'Neal throws massive shade at Rudy Gobert; Gobert responds
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