Shaquille O’Neal hits back again on the Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert on contract extension
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Rudy Gobert and Shaquille O'Neal
He Utah Jazz have had turn of fortunes this season. Important players for the league like Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Jo Ingles and Jordan Clarkson made inputs to lead the western conference. Putting on trust, Utah Jazz have placed gigantic bets on guard Donovan Mitchell and center Rudy Gobert’s contract. Rudy Gobert has been given a maximum extension like no other center has ever received in the history of the league. However, this raised a lot of questions around the fortune of money and capability of the players by the analysts and critics. Once again, hall of famer Shaquille O’Neal has pitched in his thoughts regarding the contract.
Utah Jazz came over with the revenge against Los Angeles Lakers from their last game. After losing the first one, the team made sure not to make the same mistakes. Rudy Gobert was available tonight. The game ended with 111-97 as Jazz ensured a 14-point victory. Rudy Gobert had a fair share of double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds whereas Jordan Clarkson had team high 22 points. On the other rend, Talen Horton-Tucker impressed everyone with his 24 points. Rudy Gobert’s defense was impeccable tonight.
Shaquille O’Neal passes another remark
Former NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal happens to be a great center of his generation. The mammoth scorer had previously made vicious comments regarding the money Utah Jazz promised Rudy Gobert. Once again, Shaq is proactive on this issue while expressing his jealousy towards the $205-Million-dollar dal. He said, “I’m jealous, but I’m happy. I’m jealous because I always thought that you had to have Michael-Jordan, superb-type numbers to get that type of money. That’s what it was in my era, but I’m happy for the kids.”
Shaquille had signed a $120 Million dollar 7-year max extension deal while he played with the Los Angeles Lakers. So Rudy Gobert has the highest contract compared to any center in the NBA history. But Shaq had different words for Rudy. He added, “Rudy Gobert is not the average-type, big-guy NBA player no more. Cause the average big they’re looking for now is a guy that can pick-and-pop and do whatever. Rudy Gobert’s big, tall, plays hard, plays great defense, Defensive Player of the Year.”
The big man is averaging high numbers on the defensive end for the Jazz. Shaq highlighted Rudy Gobert’s stance further more. He said, “You’re not gonna be LeBron. You’re not gonna be Kobe. You’re not gonna be Shaq. You’re not gonna be Garnett. But I think there’s a lot of big guys even today that can do what he can do. So when I tell the story, people think, ‘Oh, you’re just jealous.’ Yeah, I am jealous he’s making $250 (million).”Be it appreciation or a stigma of jealousy, Shaq put up some bare truth that the French man possess. Rudy Gobert is a valuable center and he has proved it already.
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Sumeet Singh
(384 Articles Published)