It’s not a secret that Shaquille O’Neal holds current-day NBA to a different standard, as he wants to see some of the things he watched while growing up and when he made it to the association at the start of the 90s.
Shaq is still the last center to win the Finals MVP trophy, and until Nikola Jokic won it in 2021, the last center to win the regular season MVP award. As much as some people hate him for speaking his mind, if somebody can demand more from players, that’s the Big Diesel.
He’s been calling out Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert for not getting the job done in Utah, also Kevin Durant for running away from the grind, and Ben Simmons for shutting himself down when the Philadelphia 76ers needed him. All these things have made Shaq question how easily people use the word ‘superstar’ to describe certain players.
Shaquille O’Neal Explains What Made Players Superstars And Why There’s Only A Few Of Them Right Now
During the most recent edition of The Big Podcast with Shaq, Shaq was asked what makes a superstar, but he replied by saying he doesn’t know what makes a superstar anymore (26:50).
“I don’t know what makes a superstar these days, ’cause y’all thought Ben Simmons was a superstar. I don’t know the criteria for great players anymore. I don’t know what the criteria for MVP is, I don’t what the criteria for superstar is.”
After reading a tweet saying that only LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry are superstars, he said that Giannis must be there and agreed with Nischelle Turner when she mentioned Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.
“A superstar is somebody that you pay to see, somebody that will give you a great show. I guess KD is a superstar.”
Moreover, Shaq mentioned former players who carried their teams and did everything they could to win on regular basis, saying that they are the blueprint of what a superstar should be.
“I’ve done seen Mike [Jordan], I’ve done seen Kobe, I’ve done seen D-Wade, I’ve done seen Penny Hardaway, I’ve done seen LeBron, I’ve done seen Kevin Johnson, I’ve done seen Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Tim Duncan.
“If you ain’t doin’ what they did or ’bout they did, don’t be looking for me to call you no superstar. I don’t seen it at all. I don’t play with made men. Embiid, made men. These little abject failures that you all talking about now? Get them out of my face. … I don’t think so!”
Shaq is very firm in his beliefs, and until he doesn’t see some of the ‘superstars’ of today’s league, he won’t change his mind about them. He didn’t do it with Gobert or Mitchell, and he’s calling Durant’s career outside of Golden State a failure, so these players will have to do something great with their teams to change Shaq’s mind.
