So when we talk about the greatest centers of all time, rarely does Shaquille O’Neal’s name come up in the conversation and ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe seems to think he knows why.
Throughout his career, Shaq has only won one league MVP. even teammate Kobe Bryant was named league MVP four times, his last coming in 2011.
Sharpe believes that is why Shaq may be jealous of Nikola Jokic and came after him after he was named league MVP because this is his third MVP award.
Sharpe said this on his podcast “Nightcap” with co-host Chad Johnson.
“Shaq should have five MVPs,” Sharpe stated. “He sees a guy like Nikola Jokic that’s not as dominant as him, gets three (MVP awards) in four years, I think a part of Shaq is envious of that.”
Sharpe doesn’t consider Shaq an all-time great because of his lack of MVP awards
“It’s hard for me to put somebody in the GOAT conversation with one MVP,” Sharpe added. “So we going to take somebody with one regular season MVP and put him in front people that got three, that got four, that got five. If he had my work ethic, he had 40,000 points.”
if Shaq woulda had Unc's worth ethic 🤔@ShannonSharpe @ochocinco @GilsArenaShow @ShayShayMedia_ pic.twitter.com/1PeqWlKnCD
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) May 9, 2024
You can make the argument that Shaq is one of the greatest of all time because of the number of championships he has won throughout his NBA career, which was four.
It’s hard to argue Shaq’s success when he has four championship rings which most NBA players won’t achieve in their career. It’s going to be interesting to see if Shaq responds to Sharpe’s criticism about his career.
{Nightcap}
