Shaquille O’Neal was critical of his former teammate LeBron James’ ability to instill fear in his opponents. According to Shaq, several of the best players to grace the NBA courts could make their opponents afraid of facing them. However, Los Angeles Lakers star James does not make his opponents feel that way.
On the Big Podcast With Shaq, the four-time NBA champ claimed, “I’ve heard players say — including myself, — ‘I feared [Michael Jordan].’ I’ve heard players in your generation say they feared Kobe [Bryant]. I’ve never really heard any players say they fear LeBron.”
On the episode, Mario Chalmers was present with Shaq. The 37-year-old point guard agreed with O’Neal but reasoned that LeBron James has a more likable character.
(Watch from 13:25 minutes)
“I didn’t think players really feared LeBron like they did Jordan,” Chalmers said. “And it’s not that you shouldn’t fear Bron. I just think at the end of the day, Bron has been through so much that he wanted to be liked. So it was kind of like, ‘I’m gonna do things now where people like me and people will respect me.’”
If you have had the privilege to witness Jordan, Bryant, and James, you would know that Chalmers is correct. Jordan and Bryant had an aura about themselves. They embraced the hate and moved ahead with it. On the other hand, James is a more pleasant and friendly character on and off the court. It is difficult to hate him or fear him. However, what you can expect from James is a subtle dig at a former teammate.
LeBron James responds to Shaquille O’Neal’s comments
Days passed since Shaq’s comments and it was believed that James either ignored it or did not know about it. However, it wasn’t either. He got to know about it and took to Instagram Stories to respond in style.
LeBron James uploaded a post that highlighted his superiority when it comes to on-court spoils. King James has racked up 1210 consecutive games with 10+ points. On the other hand, O’Neal has not even played 1210 games in his entire NBA career. James posted it on his Story and captioned it, “Why is this so funny to me!!” with plenty of laughing emojis.
Last week, Shaq said that “nobody fears LeBron”.
Today, LeBron’s story:
(More on @Digits3App: https://t.co/HK4yTt5bZh) pic.twitter.com/DUhZvXHRMN
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) March 19, 2024
LeBron James has played over 1480 games in his career and he continues to rack them up. The LA Lakers forward is aging like fine wine. He has also scored over 40,000 points – a record that stems from his fantastic 1210 consecutive game 10+point streak.
Shaq, on the other hand, scored 28,596 points in his career. After consecutively earning over 1,000 points for the first 14 seasons, he put up only one more 1,000+ points season in his last five.