Shaq says he would have gotten physical with Rudy Gobert

Mar 24, 2017; Los Angeles, CA, USA: Former Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal speaks during a NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Shaq thinks Rudy Gobert is lucky the two of them were never teammates.

Shaquille O’Neal is notorious for riding players hard with criticism, especially when it comes to big men he feels are underachieving. He has been on Gobert’s case for a while, including during the Summer Olympics when O’Neal criticized the French center.

O’Neal continued his criticism of Gobert by calling the Minnesota Timberwolves center one of the worst players of all time, which prompted a response from Gobert earlier this month.

On his podcast, O’Neal decided to respond.

Shaq introduced the subject on episode 32 of “The Big Podcast,” which was released on Thursday.

During a discussion with Udonis Haslem, O’Neal talked about how he would have handled Gobert as a teammate.

“If [Rudy Gobert] was on my team, what would I have done to him?” O’Neal asked Gobert.

Haslem, who was a teammate of O’Neal on the Miami Heat, said that O’Neal probably would have put his hands on Gobert in the locker room.

O’Neal believes all his reasons for being hard on a player like that are positive.

“It may sound personal, but it’s motivation. That’s all it is. It was just motivation,” O’Neal stated.

Gobert has been honored as the NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times during his career, which is part of the reason he has been so heavily criticized by his colleagues, who feel he is underachieving or undeserving.

Shaq says he would have put his hands on Rudy Gobert if they had been teammates 😳

(🎥 @bigpodwithshaq / https://t.co/dt2QFRv048) pic.twitter.com/hgiLTdxstL

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 19, 2024