Shaquille O’Neal Discards Any Notion Of Wilt Chamberlain’s Inclusion In GOAT Debate

The GOAT debate has dominated sports talk for years. But in the NBA, it always seems to spark hostility. Is it Michael Jordan? LeBron James? Or Kobe Bryant? One thing is certain. There are several players who have a legitimate claim to be in the conversation. Wilt Chamberlain, however, is not one of them according to Shaquille O’Neal.

O’Neal has never put his own name on that list. He has stated several times in the past that he never wanted to be the best player in the NBA. He just wanted to be the most dominant. However, that humility hasn’t stopped him from making bold claims about who the true GOATs are.

Shaq brought this up on the latest edition of his Big Podcast, which featured Markieff and Marcus Morris. While the group was discussing names like Stephen Curry as potential candidates, the moment Chamberlain’s name came up, O’Neal didn’t hesitate to shut it down.

“Naw, I don’t think so,” said Shaq. Co-host Adam Lefkoe asked why. “He only had two,” stated the Diesel, referring to the Big Dipper only winning two NBA Championships.

Shaq could have critiqued Chamberlain’s style of play, but instead, he leaned on “ring culture” to make his point. That didn’t sit well with Markieff, who defended Wilt and other NBA greats as all-time players, regardless of how many titles they won.

“Just winning anyway is hard to do,” Markieff stated. “For somebody to win two, I don’t think it’s like, ‘Yeah, he ain’t win enough.’ He won two; that’s enough. Some people can’t win at all.” 

“Ring culture” has been a hot topic in the NBA community this offseason, and fans remain divided. One side believes that championships are the ultimate measure of greatness, while the other argues that legends like Charles Barkley are still all-time greats despite never winning a ring. Shaq, however, had his own reasons for questioning Wilt’s GOAT status by using that very metric.

“Yeah, but we’re talking the greatest of all time,” said Shaq, before dropping his list onto the group. “Mine is Mike, LeBron, and Kobe.”

That’s a solid top three, and it’s hard to argue with Shaq, considering those three men have a combined 15 NBA championships between them. The thing is, if greatness were based solely on titles, then Bill Russell would sit firmly at the top. Any debate about different eras or different times goes out the window. Russell won, literally, more than anyone else.

As for Wilt, O’Neal did acknowledge him as an all-time great, particularly for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, he ranked him behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and himself. “Kareem, me, then Wilt. I’m better than Wilt. I’d bust Wilt’s a**,” The Diesel once declared on Inside the NBA.

That said, Shaq does consider Chamberlain to be in the same echelon as himself. “Most dominant in my opinion is only two, myself and Wilt,” he said in an old interview. So while he never backs down from a debate, he clearly respects the man who once scored 100 points in a single game.