SHAQ IS NOW FEUDING WITH SHANNON SHARPE AFTER NIKOLA JOKIC INTERVIEW: ‘YOU CAN’T SPEAK ON ME’
Nikola Jokić MVP debates tend to start media feuds. Last year, it was between Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick, this year, it’s Shaquille O’Neal and Shannon Sharpe.
While the world is caught up in Kendrick Lamar and Drake exchanging diss tracks, Shaq wrote one for Sharpe Thursday night and shared it on Instagram. But the crux of the feud between these two hulking sports stars stems from Shaq telling Jokić that Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserved to be this season’s NBA MVP.
Jokić joined Inside the NBA Wednesday night after being named league MVP for the third time in four seasons. While the intent was probably to celebrate and congratulate Jokić for winning the award, the interview quickly became awkward when Shaq claimed the Denver Nuggets center didn’t deserve the MVP.
“Joker, as the president of the ‘Big Man Alliance’ … you know I love you, [you’re] the best player in the league,” Shaq began, “I want to congratulate you, but I want you to hear it from me first. I thought that SGA should have been the MVP. That’s no disrespect to you, but congratulations.”
Saying “no disrespect” doesn’t automatically negate any disrespect. That was disrespectful. And in the wake of that disrespect, Shaq was justifiably called out by many including Sharpe, who accused the former NBA MVP of being jealous.
“We’re never gonna see another guy Shaq’s size, with his athleticism, that was as dominant as him,” Sharpe said on his Nightcap podcast. “And he robbed himself because he didn’t take it serious enough…Shaq should have five MVPs, Shaq should have seven titles. And he sees a guy like Nikola Jokić that’s not as dominant as him and he gets three in four years and people are talking about him…Shaq is never brought up…We talk about GOATs, the Mount Rushmore, and I think a part of him is envious of that. But he doesn’t have anybody to blame but himself.”
Shaq heard Sharpe’s criticism and he didn’t like it, discounting the Pro Football Hall of Famer’s ability to speak about his career while accusing him of creating clickbait. Shaq even reached for the elementary argument of, ‘I’m not jealous, you’re jealous.’
“If you ain’t ranked in the top ten in your profession, then you can’t speak on Me. don’t forget i know what you did to get were you at. me jealous, sounds like you jealous,” Shaq wrote on Instagram. “I kno you tryna stay relevant by gossiping on your podcast. we don’t believe you. you need more people and in case you forgot. 4 rings three finals Mvp top 50 and top 75. google me.”
“In the words of @skipbayless im better than you. #g14classification i have it, you don’t, not in my profession,” Shaq continued. “And your goat debate , never wanted to be the goat i wanted to be who you should greet me as THE MOST DOMINANT EVER.”
We can’t confirm whether he needed to Google Shaq to get this information, but Sharpe responded by noting, “He’s the most dominant big man in the history of the game and he got one MVP. I never professed that I was as great as Shaq. But what I will say is I got what I got because I worked my ass off…I got everything out of my God given ability.”
There are some athletes who reach for the low hanging fruit of “you never played before” to hit back at criticism and Shaq is clearly one of those athletes. But acting like Shannon Sharpe, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was some sort of scrub who can’t talk about what it takes to be great or the greatest, is absurd.
Was Shaq a better NBA player than Sharpe was an NFL player? Sure, if you want to boil their feud down to that. Sharpe is still just as well versed as any athlete in talking about effort, maximizing potential, and putting in the work it takes to be great. Regardless, thank you Nikola Jokić for spawning these feuds.
The post Shaq is now feuding with Shannon Sharpe after Nikola Jokic interview: ‘You can’t speak on me’ appeared first on Awful Announcing.
2024-05-10T16:10:14Z dg43tfdfdgfd