Any athlete that makes it anywhere near the top starts with one dream, to be the best to ever play the sport they do. Obviously, that title can only ever belong to one person although there are always multiple people with a claim to it. The NBA’s GOAT debate has a very obvious frontrunner in Michael Jordan, someone widely accepted as the GOAT, with cases for the likes of Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and LeBron James.
However, not every player apparently wants to be considered the GOAT, and certainly not Shaquille O’Neal, who would much rather stick with his title of being the most dominant player in the NBA during his prime. Shaq’s accolades may not match up to some of the other players in the greatest ever conversation, but he is peerless when it comes to being the ruthless best in the league when he was in his prime.
O’Neal spoke about how he feels about these conversations to GQ Sports, explaining his rather eccentric take on the situation.
Question: “Speaking of that, I would argue that you were the most dominant force the NBA has ever seen. Playing against my hometown Nets, you broke the backboard, which I’ll never forget. What was the time when you were playing where you realized ‘Yo, I can pretty much do whatever I want?”
Shaquille O’Neal: “I’ve seen that people are enamored with titles, right? But I never wanted to be the best ever. I don’t want to say it’s too much competition, but there are too many names floating around, right? Even now: Kobe, Jordan, LeBron.
“Now, most dominant, my category, is only one or two people. I’m fine with that. It’s either me or Wilt. I already passed Wilt in championships. lf I had passed Wilt, I would have got on TV arrogantly and say, ‘I am the most dominant person ever. I don’t wanna hear nobody else’s name, period.’ Boom, boom, boom. ‘Nobody did what I did, nobody did it like I do. Forget Wilt.’ But because I didn’t pass him, I have to allow people to still say his name. When you say the best, there are 20 people—Dr. J, Magic, Kareem, Bill. It goes on. But when you say most dominant, there’s only two, so I’m happy.”
From the 1999-2000 season to the 2001-02 season, there was not a player in the league that could hold a candle to O’Neal. Shaq averaged 28.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game over 3 seasons in the regular season, won 3 championships and 3 Finals MVPs with the Los Angeles Lakers and won his solitary MVP in 2000 as well.
The only way teams knew how to stop the Big Diesel was to literally foul him as much as they could to send him to the free-throw line. No one except perhaps Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain has dominated the league so thoroughly for any stretch in their career. Shaq could have been the GOAT if he tried, at least Kobe Bryant seemed to think so, but it seems the big man is happy with being the most dominant.
