Former Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O'Neal has a pretty unique relationship with big men, and by unique, I mean mostly combative and strangely competitive. But curiously enough, one center who has earned the support and admiration of The Big Aristotle is Bol Bol, the 7'2″ son of 7'7″ NBA legend Manute Bol. In his first four seasons in the NBA, Bol Bol has averaged 6.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and less than one block per game, which are the kind of numbers that ordinarily would cause Shaq to have an on-air conniption and start ranting about BBQ chicken. Instead, last night, Shaq doubled down on his love for Bol Bol, this time at the expense of Spurs rookie superstar/horror movie enthusiast Victor Wembanyama.
Shaq compared Wemby to Bol Bol and Chuck lost it 👀 pic.twitter.com/VIQfj8i61r
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 1, 2023
Now, Shaq's fascination with Bol, who is currently a seldom-used back-up in his first season with the Phoenix Suns, is actually quite easily explainable. Shaq's understandable bias comes from his time as the former AAU coach of Bol Bol, and the fact that Bol and Shaq's son Shareef are friends. We learned about this back in 2019, when The Big Shaqtus made headlines when he claimed that he would choose to build his franchise around Bol Bol rather than Zion Williamson.
“I don't even think I go with Zion,” O'Neal said in a pre-draft interview when he was asked which incoming prospect he would choose to build a team around, per Scott Gleeson of USA Today. “Believe it or not, I'd go with Bol Bol. Him and Shareef are friends and I've seen the potential what this kid can do. For example, when I was his coach in AAU, we never lost. He's got it all. He's (7-2), can shoot, dribble, can pass. Nobody really knows it because he was always hurt.”
Strangely enough, the one area where Bol Bol has actually proven to be superior to Zion Williamson is in terms of health. Now granted, Bol Bol has played sparingly off the bench compared to Zion who has played starter's minutes, but Bol Bol has actually played in more games (124) than Zion has (117), which is more of an indictment of Zion Williamson than it is a celebration of Bol Bol's durability.
But Shaq gets at something important here. Bol Bol represents something that in 2019, we still hadn't seen much of. Sure, Kristaps Porzingis had come along already and been touted as the original unicorn, and Thon Maker too had made the rounds as the next seven-footer who possessed a guard's skillset on the perimeter. Bol was next in line, and because he was the son of a former NBA player who has the second-highest blocks per game average in NBA history, it was easy to see the potential upside. But nobody, I repeat, nobody besides Shaq would think to make the Bol Bol-Victor Wembanyama comparison in 2023.
So hey, I applaud Diesel for sticking to his very big guns. Maybe Bol Bol figures it out and puts together a long, semi-successful career as a rotation big. That appears to be the upside for Bol at this point in time, which would end up being one of the worst case scenario outcomes for Wemby.
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