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Shaquille O'Neal has never been one to mince words, and he wasn’t about to start when the topic turned to Wilt Chamberlain’s infamous claim. On a recent episode of The Big Podcast with Brandon Jennings and Adam Lefkoe, the Lakers legend flat-out dismissed Chamberlain’s decades-old statement that he slept with 20,000 women, per Yahoo. His reaction? Pure disbelief laced with the kind of unfiltered commentary only Shaq can deliver.
“First of all, he didn't have no cell phone,” O’Neal pointed out, questioning the logistics of Chamberlain allegedly meeting and sleeping with nearly 20 women a day. “You show up? You just pop up and there's 20 women waiting?”
Shaq wasn’t done. He broke it down, doing the kind of street-level math that brings this number into full-blown fantasy territory. “A thousand women a year for 20 years? Get the f*** outta here,” he said. “Who even knows 20,000 people?”
While Shaq's delivery was laced with humor and disbelief, there was a real point behind the performance. His skepticism wasn’t about hating on Chamberlain’s legacy, it was about calling out what he sees as an exaggerated myth that’s persisted in sports folklore for too long.
Wilt’s own words cast further doubt
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Ironically, Chamberlain may have softened on the claim later in life. In his autobiography Wilt: Larger Than Life, the late Hall of Famer framed the number less as a verified count and more of a symbol. He admitted the 20,000 figure was chosen to illustrate how central sex was to his life—equally important, in his view, as basketball.
“We’re all fascinated by numbers,” he said, referencing his historic 100-point game. “So I thought of a number that was a round number… and I used that number.”
But later in life, Chamberlain walked some of that bravado back. He acknowledged that while the playboy lifestyle got attention, it paled in comparison to the joy of a meaningful relationship. It was a sentiment that echoed the growth of a man once defined by records and excess, now leaning into reflection.
Shaq’s commentary might have come with jokes and expletives, but the underlying sentiment was serious. Legends grow, stories stretch, and sometimes, the best way to honor greatness is to separate the myth from the man.
