Getty Image / Michael Tullberg / Takashi Aoyama
During a recent conversation with Myles O’Neal (his son), Shaq was asked who the worst NBA player of all-time is and without skipping a beat Shaq answered ‘Rudy Gobert.’ Funnily enough, Myles O’Neal saw this answer coming from a mile away and laughed it off saying he knew Shaq was going to answer that.
Ben Simmons’ name then came up and Shaq called him a bum too. The conversation could have easily ended there but Shaq then went on to explain why he thinks Rudy Gobert is the worst NBA player of all time and why he has no qualms about criticizing players like Gobert.
Shaq named his pick for the Worst NBA Player of All Time… 😶 pic.twitter.com/tsEqJFl2qP
— Complex (@Complex) September 4, 2024
When Myles asked Shaq “(Rudy Gobert) is worse than Ben Simmons?” O’Neal responds “Ben Simmons is another bum.” He then explains “You know why? Because I’m going to tell you why. If you sign a contract for 250 (million), show me $250M. There’s a reason why I walk funny, why I can’t turn my neck, and why I can’t do it… because I played for my $120 (million).”
Shaq Diesel went on to say “you guys guys like him that f— the system over. They’re making all this money and they can’t f—— play. So I don’t respect guys like that. You know, every time I make these comments people think I’m hating but these are facts. You got teachers, you got firemen, you’ve got doctors who have real jobs and don’t get paid s—.”
Side note: does Shaq think doctors don’t get paid well once they’ve been in the field? Sure, the ‘rookie contract’ for most doctors might be dinky but the vast majority start raking it in once they’ve been practicing medicine for a while. Anyway… Shaq is making good points.
For reference, Rudy Gobert’s 5-year contract is $205,000,002 for an average annual salary of $41 million. Ben Simmons signed a 5-year contract for $177,243,360 to earn an average of $35.448M according to Spotrac.
Gobert averaged 14 points/game last season and averages just 12.7 points/game in his career. He picks up plenty of rebounds but c’mon, $41 million/season for that? And let’s not even get into Ben Simmons here…
The full Shaq / Mylex O’Neal interview can be seen here.