Late summer… the NFL season is just kicking off (yay!), baseball playoffs are on the horizon. Hoops? Been done for a while, and next season is nowhere near tipoff. So what’s our man Shaq doing, talking smack about some of his least favorite players? Don’t know… but here we are.
As we know, O’Neal is never shy about letting his feelings and opinions be known, especially about the game he loves and the people in it. A little criticism for a guy not giving 110%? Never a bad time for that.
This week, Hall of Famer and TV commentator Shaquille O’Neal used an interview with Complex.com – a lifestyle, music and sports site – to continue applying heat to a few guys in the Association who he believes are not pulling their weight.
In that interview with Complex, posted just this week (as of this posting date), Shaq was again on point as he put a couple guys on blast. Asked by Complex who he thought was the current worst player in the game, Shaq answered: Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. What a surprise!
The BIG Podcast with SHAQ
On that podium along with Gobert, Shaq put Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons, calling him “another bum.” In Shaq’s words, “If you sign a contract for $250 (million), show me $250,” he explained. “You got guys like him that (expletive) the system and over there, making all this money and they can’t (expletive) play. I don’t respect guys like that.”
Is it just flat-out dislike for players like Gobert and Simmons? Not really. In an earlier interview with USA TODAY Sports, O’Neal said he was hoping his strong words would be motivation to play better, to step up and prove him wrong. “Rudy and Ben show me what you got,” he said. “People don’t understand the things I’m saying now on TV, it’s the same thing I said to my players as a leader. Young man, you getting paid 20 million. You ain’t doing nothing. Step your game up.”
O’Neal made sure to say it was all about on-court performance, not locker-room talk. “I’m not hating, I’m telling you the truth. If you don’t like the truth, that’s something you got to deal with. So now it’s out there, it’s viral. Show what you gonna do, Rudy and Ben. Shut me up.”
How did the latest comments land? Well, the “conversation” (a soft way to put it, we know) between Shaq and Gobert has been ongoing for a few seasons. Seeing the latest comments this week, Gobert went to his own social feeds, posting: “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. I get the entertainment part but unlike other folks, you don’t need that stuff to stay relevant.”
The NBA regular season tips off in about six weeks. There’s going to be a lot to cover this year, including what might be the final season of TNT’s Inside the NBA. Plenty of other posts about that subject here on the ShaqFu Radio blog, so check ‘em out if you need an update.