Former Los Angeles Lakers superstar center Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t been one to hold back on criticizing the current generation of NBA players, and he had some controversial remarks regarding two of the league’s premier young big men recently.
O’Neal said that if he were playing in today’s NBA, he would make Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama “quit.”
Former NBA guard Ron Harper, who won two championships while playing alongside O’Neal on the Lakers in the early 2000s, took to X on Monday and seemingly gave a seal of approval on O’Neal’s assertion.
“Real talk,” Harper wrote in response to O’Neal’s claim.
Harper witnessed O’Neal’s dominance firsthand during his time with the Lakers. In Harper’s maiden season in Los Angeles, the 1999-00 campaign, O’Neal led the league in scoring and field-goal percentage and took home the NBA’s MVP award. He averaged 29.7 points per game while shooting 57.4 percent from the field across 79 games played.
O’Neal was then nearly as dominant in the following season, which also marked Harper’s swan song with the Lakers and in the NBA. O’Neal was once again a force to be reckoned with, as he averaged 28.7 points per contest and led the league in field-goal percentage for what was a fourth consecutive season at the time.
In both of the seasons where O’Neal played with Harper, O’Neal took home Finals MVP honors.
Harper’s time in the NBA ended after he won back-to-back titles playing alongside O’Neal and fellow star Kobe Bryant on the Lakers, and he retired as a five-time champion. He was also a part of the Chicago Bulls’ second three-peat in the 1990s with stars Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen paving the way.
It’s unfortunate that NBA fans will never get to see a prime O’Neal on the court with Wembanyama or Holmgren, as such a matchup at the center position would make for must-see television. Still, it’s fun to imagine how a dominant player such as O’Neal would hold up against elite defenders like Wembanyama and Holmgren.
