Shaq has lengthy been vital of NBA huge males and has as soon as once more taken intention at Rudy Gobert.
The huge fella raised a whole lot of eyebrows when he questioned Gobert’s defensive skills.
“I never thought he was a great defensive player,” Shaq mentioned on his podcast this week. “See, what it is, there’s not a lot of centers that are making him play defense. Like, he’s not doing that s**t against Joker… He’s 7’6”, after all, in the event you lay it up, he’s going to dam it. But protection to me is guard that man and shut him down. You need to impress me? Hold Joker underneath 15 factors. All that weakside shot blocking, that’s cool. But it’s not going to work towards guys like me and Joker.”
Shaq then proceeded to chuckle at Gobert’s primary stats.
“If I were 42, I’d be making Rudy Gobert money,” he mentioned. “Twelve points and eight rebounds? I could do that s**t right now… making $250 million… averaging twelve points.”
It didn’t take lengthy for the inevitable backlash to reach, with social media flooded with individuals calling out Shaq’s feedback.
Here’s just a bit style:
Shaq is evaluating Rudy Gobert as a defender based mostly on the factors we used when Shaq was a participant. I believe that cuts to the core of why a whole lot of older gamers have these ridiculous takes. They’re evaluating gamers by way of the lens of a league that not actually exists. https://t.co/K3NdaBGJJz
— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) March 13, 2024
Rudy Gobert This 12 months:
13.7 PPG
12.9 RPG
2.1 BPG
65 FG%
65 FT% (Would be Shaq’s Career High)
104.2 Defensive Rating (Leads NBA)
Anchors the perfect protection within the NBA.Disrespect must cease https://t.co/A5cpL8NGzg pic.twitter.com/NSXohbCzA7
— MNMuse (@statmusewolves) March 13, 2024
Shaq’s feedback definitely are weird contemplating Gobert has the perfect particular person score of any participant within the NBA this season. He presently anchors the perfect defence within the NBA and has beforehand gained three Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Clearly, there may be some private hangup going on right here for Shaq, who has a protracted historical past of bashing NBA huge males.
After years of unfairly calling out Dwight Howard with nonsensical criticism, Gobert is effectively and really his new favorite punching bag.
And if all of the reactions on-line are something to go by, lots of people have had sufficient of Shaq’s senseless hating.
READ MORE: Shaq Recalls Wild Locker Room Fight Story From Heat Days
