Shaquille O’Neal is marking his territory with the Mad Dog.
Earlier this week on ESPN’s “First Take,” Chris Russo declared that O’Neal is only the fifth-best centre in NBA history, and now the four-time NBA champion has responded to the assertion, the NY Post reports.
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On O’Neal’s “Big Podcast,” co-host Adam Lefkoe played the clip of Russo blasting Shaq for saying that Steph Curry might be the greatest player of all-time and questioning the former center’s own place in the pantheon of greatness.
O’Neal’s first reaction to the clip was to ask of Russo, “Who the f*** is that?”
Lefkoe responded that it was Chris Russo and that the longtime sports talk radio host had said O’Neal was the fifth-best centre in NBA history, and Lefkoe proceeded to play the whole segment from “First Take” for him.
“Let’s just get it straight — I would smack the sh*t out of that dude,” O’Neal said.
He agreed that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain ranked above him, but disputed the idea of being behind Hakeem Olajuwon and Moses Malone.
“I’m the most dominant centre ever,” O’Neal continued.
“I don’t ever want to hear another name again. OK? So that would put me at number 3. I passed Hakeem Olajuwon. The king beat me, I came back and beat him. Moses Malone, I passed him up. Four, five, six years ago, before I retired.”
O’Neal won four NBA championships — three with the Lakers, and one with the Heat.
Russo had also ranked Tim Duncan ahead of O’Neal, but Stephen A. Smith quickly informed him that Duncan was a forward, not a centre.
There was a lengthy back-and-forth about Malone on “First Take” in which Russo touted his performance alongside a group of “cast-offs” when vying against the legendary 1980s Celtics, while Smith and Jay Williams were in disbelief over the argument.
For whatever reason, Bill Russell was omitted from the all-time centre rankings discussion entirely.
This article originally appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.
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