Shaquille O’Neal is doubling down on his recent comments to Nikola Jokic.
The retired Basketball Hall of Famer O’Neal sparked some backlash last week with what he said to the Denver Nuggets superstar Jokic during a live interview. Jokic had just been named the MVP for the 2023-24 season and appeared on TNT for a reaction interview. During the segment, O’Neal told Jokic to his face that he believed Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander should have won the MVP instead (see the video here).
On Thursday, O’Neal reposted a video comparing his skills and attributes to those of Jokic. O’Neal called the video “awesome and hilarious” and also mentioned that Jokic was one of his favorite current players in the NBA.
However, things got a little heated in the comment section. One fan left a comment for O’Neal, saying, “Why disrespect Jokic on his MVP?” O’Neal then responded to the fan with a rant for the ages.
“told him to his face so dummies like u won’t twist my words,” O’Neal wrote. “i’m a always stand on what i say and i thought sga was the mvp and i dint give a f–k who like it” (profanity edited by LBS).
“if u watch what i said i said he is still the best big man,” added O’Neal of Jokic. “how is that disrespect dummy. again i stand on what i say u either it’ll agree or disagree but how about i don’t give AF. any more questions.”
The exchange is no longer visible publicly, perhaps because it was deleted by one or both of the parties. But you can see a screenshot below.
Shaq … pic.twitter.com/3buQidKrHD
— Jason Squilliams (@JasonSquilliams) May 17, 2024
Many felt O’Neal took away from Jokic’s moment by essentially telling him just minutes after he won the award that he didn’t deserve it. But O’Neal is clearly making no apologies for what he said, even if a lot of people would seemingly agree with the commenter who called O’Neal out.
