Shaquille O’Neal is one of the greatest big men in NBA history, and on the latest episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, he was asked to share his Mount Rushmore of big men, excluding himself. O’Neal went with some big names and came up with an impressive quartet.
“You’ve got to go with Mr. (Bill) Russell, for championships,” O’Neal said. “You got to go with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You gotta go with Hakeem Olajuwon because I couldn’t stop that motherf*****. And you gotta go with the other most dominant player ever, Wilt Chamberlain.”
If you take O’Neal out of the equation, those are arguably the four greatest big men in NBA history.
Bill Russell won a record 11 NBA championships, five MVPs, and four rebounding titles. He was a 12-time All-Star, who also made 11 All-NBA teams. Had the Defensive Player of the Year award existed during Russell’s time in the league, he’d have won it multiple times as well.
We next get to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who won six titles, two Finals MVPs, six MVPs, two scoring titles, and one rebounding title, and he led the league in blocks four times. Abdul-Jabbar was a 19-time All-Star and made 15 All-NBA teams.
Hakeem Olajuwon was the only one of the four that O’Neal played against and he certainly made quite an impression on him. Olajuwon won two NBA titles, two Finals MVPs, an MVP, two DPOYs, and two rebounding titles, and he also led the league in blocks thrice. Olajuwon was a 12-time All-Star and made 12 All-NBA teams.
Last but not least, you have Wilt Chamberlain, who won two titles, a Finals MVP, four MVPs, seven scoring titles, 11 rebounding titles, and one assist title. Chamberlain was a 13-time All-Star and made 10 All-NBA teams.
All four men have incredible resumes and are more than deserving of a spot on Mount Rushmore. Some might argue for Tim Duncan being there, but I don’t think O’Neal considers him to be a big man, as he played at power forward for much of his career.
As for some honorable mentions, I would add the likes of Moses Malone, Nikola Jokic, and David Robinson. Jokic could potentially one day have a strong case to be in the Mount Rushmore of big men. The Serbian looks set to win his third MVP this season and if he can win a couple more championships the rest of the way, it would be very hard to not put him in there.
Shaquille O’Neal Believes He Is The Third-Best Center Of All-Time
O’Neal would have certainly included himself in that Mount Rushmore of big men if he was allowed to. He believes he is one of the three greatest big men ever and O’Neal shut down ESPN’s Chris Russo’s claim that he is the fifth-best center of all-time.
“Who the f*ck is that?…I’m the most dominant center ever,” said Shaq. “I don’t ever wanna hear another name again… so that would put me at No. 3. I passed Hakeem Olajuwon. The king beat me but I came back and beat him. Moses Malone, I passed him up four, five, six years before I retired. So, me, I would put myself at number three.”
Russo had Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, Olajuwon, and Malone ahead of O’Neal. The 52-year-old was fine with the first two being ranked ahead of him, but not Olajuwon or Malone.
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