Chris “Mad Dog” Russo recently filled the ESPN airwaves with a hot take that Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is just the fifth-best center in NBA history.
O’Neal isn’t having it.
“I’m the most dominant center ever,” O’Neal said on The Big Podcast With Shaq. “I don’t ever want to hear another name again.”
Russo argued to First Take co-hosts Stephen A. Smith and Jay Williams that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem Olajuwon and Moses Malone are better than O’Neal.
Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports
O’Neal, the 15-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion, considers himself to boast a better résumé than Malone and Olajuwon.
“That would put me at No. 3,” O’Neal said. “I passed Hakeem Olajuwon—the king beat me, I came back and beat him. Moses Malone, I passed him up four, five, six years before I retired.”
O’Neal admits he ranks Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar higher than himself on his all-time rankings.
“Kareem? Yes,” O’Neal said. “Wilt—only because he has more points than me.”
Chamberlain ranks seventh in NBA history with 31,419 points, right ahead of O’Neal in eighth place (28,596 points).
Now we know.
