Shaquille O’Neal usually goes after the younger generation of NBA big men. But this time around, he is targeting a big man who is even older than he is.
In a recent episode of his “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” O’Neal expressed his opinion that Bill Walton did not deserve to be on the NBA 75 team.
“You know who I’ve always had a problem with [being on the list] — Bill Walton,” said O’Neal. “He only got 6,000 points in the NBA. Really?”
O’Neal had fellow Basketball Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady on as a guest for the episode. The comment about Walton came in the context of a discussion about McGrady not making the NBA 75 list, which named the 75 greatest players in league history for the NBA’s 75th Anniversary.
Walton was selected as one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players for the league’s 50th anniversary in 1996, which automatically merited his inclusion on the NBA 75 team. But O’Neal seems to think that Walton should not have been selected in 1996 in the first place.
The argument against Walton is that his peak was very brief before injuries largely derailed his career and limited him to just ten NBA seasons (only six of which he played 50 or more games). But the argument in favor of Walton is that his peak was absolutely magnificent. Walton was a do-it-all big man who could score, rebound, pass, and block shots. He was also the best player on one championship team in the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, and he played a pivotal role as a sixth man on another championship team in the 1986 Boston Celtics. Both teams went down in history as all-time greats.
O’Neal does not appear to have any ill will towards Walton on a personal level. In fact, they starred in Reebok commercial together back in 1993.
That being said though, O’Neal has taken shots at Walton’s body of work as a basketball player before.
H/T NBA Reddit
Photo: Mar 10, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; NBA former player Shaquille O’Neal watches a game between the Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors in the third quarter at Philips Arena. The Hawks won 105-99. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
