Shaquille O'Neal. David Butler II-Imagn Images

Shaquille O'Neal rips today's NBA players as 'soft'

By Rusty Weiss | Last updated Jun 5, 2025 11:18 AM ET

NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal offered a scathing take on the state of professional basketball in a recent appearance on the Kelce brothers' "New Heights" podcast.

O'Neal — the "Big Diesel" — believes players are too "soft."

"The league is getting soft, the game is getting soft, and it's going to take a couple of people to bring it back," he said.

The NBA's biggest star, LeBron James, probably flopped when he heard Shaq's comments.

O'Neal, a four-time NBA champion, pointed out that the center position in today's game has been neutered to a bunch of finesse three-point shooting big men instead of the dominant presence he brought to the game when he played.

"Like, I hate big guys shooting threes," he explained. "Victor Wembanyama is a great player, but I would love to just see him dominate so much that people start complaining, and they change the rules like when I did."

(Warning: NSFW)

"I could shoot, but I'm not going to shoot a three," added O’Neal. "Why would I shoot a three when I could put your little a— in the basket and dunk on you and put these b— in your face?"

The NBA is probably not all that thrilled to hear Shaq call the players soft. And they probably won't be enamored with him ripping the atrocious All-Star Game format, either.

"Our NBA All-Star format is terrible. I don’t know who’s in charge, but it's terrible," he opined.

Fact check: True.

O'Neal has long been a critic of the modern NBA game and its overreliance on the three-point shot. There are way too many players who shoot like Angel Reese trying to make a layup, heaving up threes regardless.

Ratings are "down because we’re looking at the same thing," O’Neal said on his podcast back in November. "Everybody is running the same plays."

He blamed Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors for essentially ruining the game.

"Steph Curry and those guys messed it up. I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team isn’t a 3-point shooter," Shaq said. "So, why everybody has the same strategy? I think it makes the game boring."

Rusty Weiss

Rusty Weiss is a lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers, Dallas Cowboys, and Xavier Musketeers fan. He has been writing professionally since 2008 with bylines on Sportsnaut, the Daily Caller, Ringside Intel, and Fox News.

More must-reads: