Kendrick Lamar and Drake aren't the only high-profile celebrities beefing, as it appears Shannon Shapre and Shaquille O'Neal have a feud brewing over Nikola Jokić's MVP victory. The rift between the two sports greats appears to have started following O'Neal's comments that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander should've won MVP over Jokić. He even told Jokić this in front of him during his interview with the NBA on TNT crew.
“Joker is the president of the big man alliance. You are the vice president of the big man alliance. You know, I love you The best player in the league. I want to congratulate you, but I want you to hear from me first I thought the sga should have been the mvp. That's no disrespect to you but congratulations,” O'Neal said to Jokić before asking him a question about Denver's series vs. Minnesota.
Numerous people in the sports world believed that Shaq's action was inappropriate, as it appeared to spoil a significant moment for Jokić with a slight. Shannon Sharpe on his Nightcap podcast believed that O'Neal's comments were rooted in him not having the career he believe that he should've.
“Shaq should have five MVPs. He sees a guy like Nikola Jokić that's not as dominant as him and gets three and four years. But see, when you historically great, they talk about you as great basketball player, the goat. And Shaq has never brought up and I think a part of him is envious of that. When we talk about the greatest basketball players of all time as far the goat conversation. Shaq's name is never brought up in that.”
Sharpe continued, specifically zeroing in on O'Neal's 1 MVP award.
“It's hard for me to put somebody in the GOAT conversation with one MVP. Regular season. It's hard, Gil! So we gonna take somebody with one regular season MVP and put him in front of people that got three, that got four, that got five. If Shaq woulda had, if he'da had my work ethic, he'da had 40,000 points.”
View this post on Instagram
Shaq wasn't a fan of Sharpe's critiques of him and the indictment of his career and work ethic. He took to his Instagram to respond to Sharpe saying:
“you took me sticking up @shai ask jealousy of joker. shows how smart you are and how you say anything to get clicks. so here’s some click bait for you. if you ain’t ranked in the top ten in your profession , then you can’t speak on Me. don’t forget i know what you did to get were you at. me jealous, sounds like you jealous. i kno you tryna stay relevant by gossiping on your podcast. we don’t believe you. you need more people and in case you forgot. 4 rings three finals Mvp top 50 and top 75. google me. and to b quite frank all this new success you got, you still under me. u don’t kno my work ethic. but according i work less than you but im worth more than you. make it make sense. love you to. if you need help making money it’s better ways than gossiping. i’m to old for this shit love always the most dominant big man ever who never took it serious. remember i don’t know you. and in the words of @skipbayless im better than you. #g14classification i have it, you don’t, not in my profession. and your goat debate , never wanted to be the goat i wanted to be who you should greet me as THE MOST DOMINANT EVER. #theapexpredator”
Sharpe further clarified and doubled down on his comments in the latest episode of Nightcap.
” I've never professed that I was as great as Shaq., But, what I will say. I got what I got because I worked my ass off. Now, Shaq has been the one to say that he didn't work as hard. He didn't train as hard. He didn't eat as well as he should have. Shaq is the one that anytime someone wins an MVP, he talks about how he should have been the MVP over Steve Nash. Now you guys have heard me speak glowingly. I see Travis Kelsey is better tied than I was. So was Gronk. So was, … antonio Gates, I'm cool. I got no problem. You know why I got no problem with giving people credit, right? Because I got everything out of my God given ability.”
He continued, “Am I a top 100 player? No. Am I the equivalent as a football player, as Shaq was as a basketball player? No. But what I did do is that I maximized that. And my question is, do you believe that you gave everything you possibly could in basketball? Did you train the way you should have? Did you eat the way you should have? Did you, that just goes to show you how great you was. Is that you didn't you allowed your weight to get out of control. The injury started to creep up and you got four rings and you got three finals MVP.
O'Neal appears to have more to say, even implying that he'd respond even more in another Instagram and X post.
“the @50cent of the nba will make his last response when he wakes up from his nap. then i’m done with it. it is was it is ,ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun,” he posted on his Twitter/X account.
It appears that a broader rift between O'Neal and Sharpe is brewing and it very well could be the sports beef of the year.
Follow Us
Subscribe