Shaquille O’Neal has often called Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry his favorite player, and he has now declared him the GOAT. O’Neal was asked by Overtime to eat the Shaq-A-Licious Slam upon hearing a better player than Curry in his prime, and the candy remained uneaten.
Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and O’Neal himself were mentioned, and he picked Curry over them all.
“Steph is the GOAT,” O’Neal said.
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Curry has had an incredible career, winning four titles, one Finals MVP, two MVPs, and two scoring titles. He is the greatest shooter in NBA history and deserves all the respect in the world. Has Curry done enough to get that title of greatest of all time, though? Probably not.
Jordan, for example, has a far better resume. He has won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles. Curry’s great rival James has a better one, too. He has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, one scoring title, and one assists title.
O’Neal is, of course, entitled to his opinion on this subject, but the 53-year-old sure seems to flip-flop a lot.
O’Neal called Jordan the GOAT during a recent podcast appearance. He also didn’t include Curry in his list of the 10 greatest players of all time in 2025. To go from that to best ever is quite something.
What O’Neal has been consistent about is his admiration for Curry. He once explained why he loves the guard so much.
“You know why I love Steph Curry?” O’Neal asked. “Because I’ve never seen that before… If you saw Steph on the street, he ain’t got the LeBron muscles, he’s not 6’9″, 6’10”. He looks like a perfectly normal office guy. He’s doing stuff that people never seen before.”
O’Neal ranked Curry above himself in 2023 and wondered if he should be in the GOAT conversation. Warriors fans would put him in there, but that might be it.
Curry probably needs to win another title or two to get in that conversation. Will he? The chances seem slim.
Curry has shown no indication that he’d ever leave the Warriors, and they simply do not have a good enough supporting cast around him at the moment. The 37-year-old has also suffered a big blow in the form of his co-star, Jimmy Butler, tearing his ACL on Jan. 19. Any hopes the Warriors may have had of winning it all this season vanished with that injury.
You’d give Curry a shot at winning another title with the Warriors if they somehow land Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks in this upcoming offseason, but that is it. They failed in their pursuit of Antetokounmpo at the trade deadline and will be trying again in the summer. The Warriors will face stiff competition, though, as there will be a long line of suitors.
