For NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, Bill Walton—who won two league titles, one Finals MVP, and one regular-season MVP—is not a Hall of Famer.
O'Neal shared his bold opinion in the recent episode of “The Big Shaq Podcast with Shaq.” He started off with Isiah Thomas' definition of what a legitimate Hall of Famer is. Then, he laid out his argument on why Walton isn't a Hall of Famer.
“Isiah Thomas explained this to me. There’s two types of Hall of Famers: there’s a bad mofo, shut-your-mouth Hall of Famer, which I happen to be a proud member of. Then there’s the other Hall of Fame,” Shaquille O'Neal explained.
“For example, I don’t think Bill Walton is a Hall of Famer. Then somebody mentioned it’s not the NBA Hall of Fame; it’s the Basketball Hall of Fame. So, based on that, yeah, he’s in. Because he did work in high school, he won in college, and he won one in the NBA.”
To recall, Walton won two championships and three National Player of the Year awards in a row at UCLA. This propelled him to be the top overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft.
Come 1977, Bill Walton led the Portland Trail Blazers to an NBA title where he was crowned Finals MVP. The following season, he was named Most Valuable Player.
Unfortunately, things went downhill from there as Walton suffered tons of injuries, which pretty much hampered his career. Fortunately for him, he won another title with the Boston Celtics in 1986 as a reserve.
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