3 x champion believes Shaquille O’Neal will struggle against Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama

Shaquille O'Neal claims he can force young centers Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren to quit a matchup against him.

3 x champion believes Shaquille O’Neal will struggle against Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama

Shaquille O'Neal has often criticized modern NBA bigs

Shaquille O’Neal is considered to be the most dominating player in the history of the NBA. Standing at 7′ 1″ and weighing over 325lbs, the superstar used to make opposition defenders look weak. There was a time when teams sent scouts all over the country to look for players who could defend him.

Teams then started to implement the famous ‘hack a Shaq’ play to try and slow the center down. Free throws were a major problem for the four-time champion and that is where teams looked to gain some advantage.

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But as the league evolved, the need for behemoth centers reduced. In came seven footers with elite ball handling skills and agility that would help them create shots from anywhere on the court. They did not have to rely on their physicality and instead focused on skill.

This has led to many asking how Shaquille O’Neal would fare if he went up against those skilled but less physical centers of today. The Big Aristotle claimed he would dominate anyone, but three-time champion Danny Green thinks it won’t be that easy.

Wemby does not seem like a kid that would ever quit on anything. When you are those retired guys, Shaq is one of those guys who always has to prove or show or feel like people forget. He always has to kind of show and tell or prove that. Shaq would have had problems guarding these guys.

Danny Green said

Green acknowledged that O’Neal would have dominated on the offensive side of the floor. But on defense, he would struggle to stop either Chet Holmgren or Victor Wembanyama who can score from multiple positions. The same argument goes for Nikola Jokic, who O’Neal believes he would have dominated.

Shaquille O’Neal said he would make Holmgren and Wembanyama quit

The panel of Run It Back brought up this topic after watching a clip from the Big Podcast with Shaq. On the latest episode, on the topic of current generation centers, Shaquille O’Neal summed up how he would fare against them by saying.

I hate putting myself forward in time, but I will make both of them quit. I’ma back his a** and elbow right into his mother****ing mouth.

Shaquille O’Neal said

The 53-year-old believes he could set the tone from the start. That will give him a major advantage when going up on offense. He also does not believe that these new skilled centers can shoot efficiently from the three-point line.

In contrast, he will dominate easily around the basket. This way, his numbers would end up being more than that of Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren. He reiterated that these new skilled lanky centers have no chance against him.

Past vs present debate rages on

Danny Green believes the retired greats have a problem accepting that they are no longer the best in the NBA. He believes Shaquille O’Neal has always tried to remind people about how dominant he was. His criticism of current big men stems from that, and it is a method to reinforce the fact that he was great.

But Green also believes that current NBA centers are skilled enough to embarrass past physically dominant centers such as O’Neal. One example he cited was how Victor Wembanyama learnt to beat Joel Embiid. Embiid the closest iteration of what O’Neal used to be but has more on ball skill.

He did get the better of the French phenom during his rookie season. But this season, Wembanyama learnt from his mistakes and did not back down from the duel. That proved to the three-time champion that the San Antonio Spurs star won’t back down from O’Neal.