Late last month, Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert agreed to a five-year, $205 million contract extension.
While Gobert is considered one of the best defensive big men in the league, some were surprised to see him earn the largest deal for a center in NBA history.
Among those critics is former star big man Shaquille O’Neal.
O’Neal spoke about Gobert’s new deal during a recent podcast appearance.
“I’m not gonna hate, but this should be an inspiration to all the little kids out there,” O’Neal said. “You average 11 points in the NBA, you can get 200 million.”
O’Neal has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself, and this hilarious message is no different. Clearly, he’s got an issue with Gobert getting all that money given his offensive shortcomings.
On his career, Gobert has indeed averaged 11.8 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.
So far this season, he’s averaging 16.0 points, 13.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.
They’re solid numbers, but most experts would probably agree that the price tag for that production was incredibly high.
Still, when it comes to the Jazz, they now have the two pillars of their roster locked up for the foreseeable future.
Star guard Donovan Mitchell also signed a lucrative signed a five-year contract extension recently.
