Shaquille O’Neal has always been known for his verbal incontinence, mixing sympathy and provocation. He did it in his playing days, even poking fun at his teammate Kobe Bryant when he played with him on the Lakers. And after retiring he has become even more boastful. He participates in a multitude of podcasts and does not hesitate to get involved and attack everything and everyone, especially if he tries to compare himself with current players.
This is what happened during the ‘Inside the NBA’ program, when he was asked about who would win a duel between the unstoppable Shaquille of 2001 and the Nikola Jokic of 2025, the best center today. His answer was to be expected: “I would score 40 points and they would have to double me on defense,” he said, smiling and confident that his physique would make the difference.
Confident of his superiority
O’Neal is convinced that the Serbian could not contain his brute force in the zone: “He would pick and pop, shoot threes… but after every shot, I would run to the center of the zone and the whole pavilion would scream ‘three seconds! But I would make many more two-point shots than he would three-pointers, I guarantee you that”.
He would pick and pop, shoot threes… but after every shot, I would run to the center of the zone and make a lot more two-point shots than he would threes, I guarantee you that
He went even further and insinuated that Jokic was soft on defense, even going so far as to call him a “Serbian chicken”, a variation of the expression “barbecue chicken” coined by him with which he usually defines the softer players.
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