Rudy Gobert is quickly joining the ranks of Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee among Shaquille O’Neal’s most hated.
The retired center great O’Neal had more shade for the Utah Jazz big man Gobert during an episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq” this week. O’Neal’s co-host, Spice Adams, suggested that Gobert could have held a prime O’Neal to 12 points, and O’Neal was not having it one bit.
“12 points? Yeah, in the first three minutes,” replied O’Neal. “It’s against my religion for somebody to hold me on-on-one. I take that personally. I do.
“You know what I’m gonna do to him?” O’Neal added about Gobert. “He’s a shot-blocker. You can’t shoot a shot. You gotta back his little skinny a– up under the rim and then show him the [elbow] so he get scared and then just go up and dunk it in his face.”
Pettiness aside, O’Neal is speaking all facts here. During The Diesel’s peak, there was absolutely no man on the planet who could stop him one-on-one. O’Neal ragdolled everyone from Defensive Players of the Year like Dikembe Mutombo to fellow generational bigs like Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
As for Gobert, he has been a popular target of criticism from O’Neal over the last several years. Even if it was O’Neal’s co-host who brought up Gobert’s name in this particular instance, there may be one specific reason why O’Neal does not care for Gobert as well.
H/T NBA Reddit
