"I used to hate him" - Shaquille O'Neal puts Luka Doncic in rare company with Steph Curry for passing his ultimate ‘hate test’

Former NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal shared his first impressions of Luka Doncic during an episode of his podcast, "The Big Podcast," posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday. O'Neal discussed his initial thoughts on the Slovenian star, placing him in the same league as Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry.

O'Neal mentioned that Doncic had passed his "hate test," a measure of admiration where he starts out disliking a player but eventually grows to admire them..

"I like Luka, Luka can play," Shaq said. "If you could pass my hate test and then still --

The former Lakers center revealed that he felt the same way about Curry at first. He wasn’t impressed with the two-time MVP's barrage of 3-pointers and thought he was just "lucky."

However, O'Neal eventually learned to respect what the Warriors star could do on the floor, letting go of his initial dislike.

"Steph Curry, I was like, 'That s**t lucky.' He keep doing it, 'That s**t lucky.' Find the point. Alright, this motherf***er can play... I used to hate Luka until I seen him play. I'm like, 'This motherf***ing white boy alright.'"

O'Neal said only a few things profoundly affect him due to the abundance of talent in the league, but because Doncic and Curry have made the game exciting, they have passed his "hate test."

ESPN analyst criticizes Luka Doncic's conditioning

Conditioning has often been a target for critics when discussing Luka Doncic. On Thursday, the Lakers suffered a 123-116 defeat at home to the Warriors. Following the game, former NBA player Kendrick Perkins shared his thoughts on Doncic’s conditioning.

"He's out of shape, he needs to lose weight," Perkins said. "That’s not going to happen no time soon. There's a reasons that Golden State was searching him out defensively and it's gonna continue to happen even when they get into the postseason."

Against the Warriors, Doncic scored 19 points on 35.3% shooting from the field. On the defensive end, Golden State targeted him in certain matchups. After the game, head coach JJ Redick had a short response to the opposing team targeting the 6-foot-6 guard on defense.

Even before arriving in LA, the five-time All-Star had been criticized for his conditioning. After he was traded, his weight became a topic of discussion regarding why he was let go by the Dallas Mavericks.

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