Hall of Fame former NBA center Shaquille O’Neal has taken umbrage with the occasional close games Team USA played during its run to a fifth consecutive gold medal in this month’s 2024 Paris Olympics.
Granted, the Americans did go undefeated (11-0) between their five friendly exhibition games and their six contests in competition. But the U.S. did barely eke out a semifinal game win against Team Serbia (the eventual bronze medalists), after trailing by as many as 17 points, and only led Team France (the eventual silver medalists) by three points within the final three minutes of their gold medal victory.
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During a recent episode of his show “The Big Podcast With Shaquille O’Neal,” the 2000 MVP explained why he tuned out on Team USA.
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“I’m not even paying attention to the Olympics,” O’Neal claimed. “I have a dominant personality. I don’t care how you are, whatever. My cousin Kenny just had this argument upstairs. My cousin said, ‘The world is getting close,’ but I don’t think it is. The fact that [USA Basketball won a warm-up game against Team South Sudan by just a point, 101-100], you only beat South Sudan by one. Come on, bro. That’s never supposed to happen.”
O’Neal only suited up for one Olympic squad, the gold medal-winning 1996 iteration of Team USA during the Atlanta Olympics.
A 15-time All-Star, 14-time All-NBA honoree, four-time champion, three-time All-Defensive Teamer, three-time Finals MVP, two-time league scoring leader, and 2000 MVP, the 7-foot-1 LSU product is generally regarded as one of the best big men of his generation.
During a prolific 19-year NBA career, O’Neal suited up for the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, and Cleveland Cavaliers, before wrapping up his run in 2010-11 with the Boston Celtics. He boasts career averages of 23.7 points on 58.2 percent shooting from the floor and 52.7 percent shooting from the charity stripe, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.3 blocks and 0.6 assists a night across 1,207 career regular season games (1,197 starts).
O’Neal’s 1996 U.S. Olympic team featured 11 future Hall of Famers — fellow centers Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson, power forwards Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, small forwards Scottie Pippen and Grant Hill, shooting guards Reggie Miller and Mitch Richmond, and point guard Gary Payton.
Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, O’Neal’s Orlando Magic and later Miami Heat teammate, is the only player on that summer’s roster to not be named to the Hall of Fame, and that is more due to injuries waylaying his career than anything else.
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