In a segment on NBA TV, Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal was happy to play along after he was asked to pair NBA legends with their ideal modern-day co-stars. In a quick, rapid-fire response, Shaq built his ultimate player duos, which paired some of the game’s greatest players with All-Time legends of the sport.
“Magic Johnson and Giannis Antetokounmpo…” said Shaq. ” Larry Bird and Luka Doncic. Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Kobe Bryant and Joel Embiid. Allen Iverson and Stephen Curry. Tim Duncan and Victor Wembanyama, Dennis Rodman and Victor Wembanyama. Dennis Rodman and Draymond Green… Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and CP3 [Chris Paul].”
One current player and one legend 👀
Which one of @SHAQ’s Dream Duos are you taking ⁉️ pic.twitter.com/15IHnACZfy
— NBA TV (@NBATV) November 29, 2023
It was a rather interesting exercise, but really shows a lot about how O’Neal thinks about different players. Undoubtedly, the best duo in his list were Michael Jordan and LeBron James, the de facto top two players in the history of the game. They would absolutely dominate on the same team together, and you could see the excitement in Shaq’s eyes when he thought about the potential pairing.
NBA Fans React To Shaq’s Dream Duos
Rather than go with a player who fits the best alongside the historical legend, Shaq seemingly based his answers on which pairing was the most interesting to him. While most fans were happy to dream about Shaq’s pairings, some of them proposed their own ideas… such as this one user, who suggested that Jayson Tatum would have been a better answer for Kobe Bryant’s modern-day pairing.
kobe and jayson tatum was right there.
— LFG ☘️ (@ALLABOUTJAYTEEN) November 29, 2023
Tatum prides himself on being the modern-day Kobe Bryant, so teaming up with the Lakers legend would be really interesting to see from a fan perspective. It would also be one deadly combination of offensive talent that would be hard to beat on the court.
Another fan picked went in another direction entirely and picked up on an “interesting” trend with Shaq’s list. They objected to the exclusion of the reigning NBA Finals MVP, Nikola Jokic while wrongly accusing O’Neal of being racially biased.
Not putting Joker in the mix is just once again disrespect and choosing only black players tells you a lot
— toblerone (@AUgljevarevic) November 29, 2023
It’s unfair to accuse Shaq of having malicious intent here, especially since he didn’t pick the legends that were given to him. Even so, fans will always have something negative to say when given the opportunity.
Overall, though, it’s hard to argue with Shaq’s dream duos. Love him or hate him, he made some pretty interesting pairings and it tells a lot about how he thinks about today’s lineup of NBA superstars.
Perfect Co-Star For Shaq
To end it off, O’Neal revealed which player he could pick to team up with today, and it’s no surprise that he chose Stephen Curry. Shaq has long proclaimed that his favorite player is the baby-faced assassin and it’s not hard to see why given his impact on the floor and his track record of winning in the most important moments.
As a dominant interior big man, it would probably make more sense to surround him with a perimeter-oriented shooter/ball-handler such as Curry, or even a guy like Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. During his NBA career, O’Neal had the most success with Lakers star Kobe Bryant and they won three championships together during the height of their run. So with a player of similar value and talent level, Shaq should be able to beat anyone in the league, as he proved throughout his NBA career.
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