Lakers Legend Barely Makes The Cut on Shaquille O’Neal’s Greatest Players List
Anybody that has not checked out Bill Simmons' 'Book of Basketball' definitely needs to do so to understand just how difficult it is to put together a list of the greatest players of all time. There is such interesting criteria and it's crazy to really think about how many talented and generational players have made their way through the league.
Everybody will have different opinions when it comes to selecting a set top ten and a lot has to do with who they grew up watching and what they factor in to their arguments. Certain individuals prefer skill and stats over winning and that changes the entire equation.
But I personally love hearing what actual players have to say and in this case, Los Angeles Lakers multi-time champion Shaquille O'Neal gave his own opinion and he is someone you have to respect. He re-defined what it meant to dominate down low on the block and faced some of the most elite stars in the history of the game while doing so.
O'Neal spoke to the Los Angeles Times and in no particular order, his top five first went to himself, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Following that, he then mentioned Tim Duncan, Karl Malone, Isiah Thomas, Allen Iverson and Stephen Curry.
Of course, that meant he was leaving off Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but then the Big Diesel threw him in at the number 11 spot.
"O’Neal paused for a moment, adding, “also, you got to put Kareem on that second team too,” which, of course, is now a top 11."
(Via LA Times)
Shaq put together this list in direct response to Dr.J naming his own controversial top ten players (you can read more about his selections here). However, like I said, everybody is entitled to their own opinion and at least Kareem was included in O'Neal's list!
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