Shaquille O’Neal, one of the greatest big men ever, compared himself to Nikola Jokic on Instagram with an interesting video containing two glasses of water.
“This is awesome and hilarious my four favorite players are Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokic.”
The video features a person pouring water into two glasses, one representing Shaq and one representing Jokic. Each pour of water is for a different facet like scoring, scoring bag, athleticism, dominance, etc. Both Jokic and Shaq were quite even in this grading, with Shaq being ahead in some categories such as defense and dominance, whereas Jokic was remarked as a better scorer and not taking things too personally.
The two big men have been compared many times during Jokic’s career, as he has become one of the most dominant and well-performing big men of the modern era, and has found championship success similar to Shaq during his career.
In fact, Jokic has been able to win 3 NBA MVPs, whereas O’Neal only won the accolade once in his career. However, Shaq is more decorated from a trophies standpoint, having won a Rookie of the Year, 3 Finals MVPs, and 4 NBA championships, whereas Jokic has only won 1 NBA championship and Finals MVP trophy.
For his career, Shaq averaged 23.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.3 blocks per game over 19 seasons in the NBA. Jokic, across 9 seasons, has averaged 28.2 points, 12.9 rebounds, 8.8 assists, and 0.7 blocks per game. While Jokic’s numbers are way better right now, it is important to note that Shaq’s numbers took a dip because of his last few seasons when he was past his prime.
How Do Shaquille O’Neal And Nikola Jokic Compare?
Shaq and Jokic actually had a pretty tense interaction with each other recently. When Jokic was announced as the NBA MVP this season, Shaq boldly disrespected Jokic to his face, claiming that he didn’t deserve to win the MVP this season over OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It was a tense interaction, although Jokic didn’t escalate the situation and let the big man have his opinion.
Shaquille O’Neal and Nikola Jokic have the distinction of being two of the best big men of their respective eras. Both players dominated the NBA during their careers, and have the accolades to show for that. While Jokic has won more MVPs in his career, Shaq is clearly in the lead when it comes to NBA championships, winning four championships in his career, compared to Jokic’s lone championship win last year.
But there are already some conversations taking place about who is better between Nikola Jokic and Shaquille O’Neal. In fact, ‘Mad Dog’ Chris Russo recently claimed that The Joker was better than O’Neal and had surpassed him as a big man. While Jokic is an incredible player, it is a bold claim to make that he is better than the most dominant player in NBA history.
On the other hand, Paul Pierce, a former teammate of Shaq’s, said that Jokic is not among the five greatest big men in NBA history like Shaq and that he has a long way to go in his career before he can find a place on that list.
While Jokic might not have achieved as much as Shaq in his career, he is still a young player in his prime and has the chance to gain more accomplishments and climb up the ladder of the great big men in the NBA.
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