You can add Shaquille O’Neal’s name to the list of players that have a feud with Draymond Green. Green has been exchanging shots with Charles Barkley for a couple of years now and has some rivalries within the league. Now it’s Shaq O’Neal’s turn, apparently.
The 4x NBA champion has engaged in a debate on who is the better player between him and Green. Recently, Draymond claimed Shaq would’ve been ‘destroyed’ by himself and Stephen Curry with the pick-and-roll.
Obviously, this didn’t sit well with Shaq, who paid his respect to Draymond, but made it clear that Green and his team wouldn’t have anything to do in O’Neal’s era. O’Neal joined The Big Podcast and said (as transcribed by CBS Sports):
“I like Draymond. I like guys that voice their opinion,” O’Neal said. “I try not to get personal with guys. I like him, I like the way he plays. You have to listen to his points. He made good, key points. He said in their era. He didn’t say in my era … In my era, [the Warriors] would have been the six or seven seed. You had us, you had San Antonio, you had the Utah Jazz, you had Portland, you had White Chocolate and C-Webb [in Sacramento].
“But again, it’s his opinion. I try not to get personal with people’s opinions. But however, Mr. Draymond, like you said, I would’ve torn your ass up on that block.”
It’s really hard to make these comparisons, but players and fans keep doing so. We’re talking about different eras and we’ll never know what would have happened. Perhaps these Warriors, at their peaks, would be considered a ‘Showtime’ Lakers 2.0, with Shaq and his Magic or Lakers trying to beat them.
The truth is that is really hard to have a clear answer. It’s fun to watch these dudes going at it, but in the end, there isn’t much that we can actually know or do to leave everything clear.
