Shaquille O’Neal is never one to bite his tongue. Whether he’s going off on young NBA players or going off on decade-long vets, the Hall of Famer always keeps it 100.
As such, it should come as no surprise that O’Neal has a pretty strong opinion about one of the league’s brightest stars – Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
This past week O’Neal appeared on the “All The Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and admitted he wasn’t always a fan of Curry’s game.
It took him some time to come around.
His rationale is definitely an interesting one.
“I used to hate on him early on in his career,” O’Neal said.
“(I’d say), ‘He ain’t gonna make that,’ but he kept proving me wrong and that’s why he’s my best player.
“I like being proved wrong, so my message to these young cats: When I say something, prove me wrong.”
And now O’Neal regards Curry as one of the most influential basketball players of all time.
“Steph probably is the most influential player when it comes to little people, right? ‘Cause I see a lot of little guards – like little kids – I’m going to these tournaments, they’re doing stuff I can’t even do,” he continued. “And it’s good, and bad.”
Yikes. https://t.co/EcjPag0S7v
— Game 7 (@game7__) April 19, 2021
This isn’t the first time O’Neal has spoken out about his feelings towards Curry.
Over the past couple of years, O’Neal’s reputation has transformed ever so slightly. He went from being a fun-loving and goofy person to someone who had a series of explicit text messages between him and a special lady friend leak out and a guy talked about policing his daughters’ dating habits. It was a weird shift.
O’Neal is at his best when he offers generous, but insightful analysis of modern-day NBA players. Hopefully he sticks to that going forward.
Related: Knicks Almost Traded Julius Randle Before Deadline
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
