Dallas Cowboys stars Trevon Diggs and Micah Parsons attended Game 4 between the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. With Shaquille O’Neal sitting close by, Diggs took the opportunity to ask him whether he’d average 40 points a game in today’s NBA and the 52-year-old predictably said he would.
Trevon Diggs: “You averaging 40 today?”
Shaquille O’Neal: “Easy.”
While O’Neal is the most dominant player in modern NBA history, I don’t think he would be able to average 40 points per game over the course of a season. Sure, he won’t be facing a lot of great big men in today’s NBA, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to get to 40.
Game plans would be put in place specifically for someone as great as O’Neal. I also think the fact that his conditioning wasn’t all that great would hurt him a little bit with how fast the pace is today. Bigs are also now having to defend a lot on the perimeter, which means he is going to be expending a whole lot of energy on things other than scoring.
I am by no means stating O’Neal, who averaged 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.6 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game during his career, would struggle in today’s NBA, though. At his peak, he could average somewhere around 35 points per game, which would be highly impressive.
Getting back to this interaction with Diggs, the Cowboys star could have given a higher number than 40 and the answer would still have been yes. O’Neal once stated he would average 60 points in today’s NBA and get $300 million a year tax-free. I think I can safely say that wouldn’t be the case.
As for the game they witnessed, the Timberwolves won 105-100 to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Mavericks. A big man stamped his authority on the contest too, as Karl-Anthony Towns recorded 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist while going 4-5 from beyond the arc. Towns just did it in a very different way from how O’Neal used to.
Shaquille O’Neal On Why He Would Dominate In Today’s NBA
Some have questioned just how effective O’Neal would be in today’s NBA, as he wasn’t much of a shooter. I didn’t think it would be a huge problem, however, as he could just do so much damage on the inside. O’Neal himself explained why he would still be dominant in today’s NBA.
“I think I would just be just as dominant. With how open the game is now and with all those three-pointers and shooters, the paint would be much more open for me to work on.”
I have always held the belief that great players would be great in any era and that applies to O’Neal as well. The spacing in today’s game would certainly help him a lot. He wouldn’t be facing double teams nearly as often as he used to and no one can guard him 1-on-1.
O’Neal also responded to those who thought he couldn’t play in today’s NBA by stating he would be like Giannis Antetokounmpo. It’s not a perfect comparison, but you do get what he was trying to say.
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