Why is Shaquille O'Neal jealous of LeBron James being in G.O.A.T. conversation?
Shaquille O'Neal praised LeBron James after he broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record last week. O'Neal also tried to get James to admit that he's the greatest ever after becoming the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
In a recent interview with Extra, the Hall of Fame big man revealed his real feelings about James' record-breaking accomplishment. Shaq is jealous that he has to talk about the G.O.A.T. debate between "The King" and Michael Jordan rather than being in the conversation.
"It was a professional jealousy moment," O'Neal said. "If it was me, I would have been arrogant for 19 seconds … I know he is a humble kid. I know he is going to give the answer, 'I don't want to be involved in the debate of who the greatest.'
"I am jealous of having the conversation. It is nice to be in 'Who’s the greatest? Him, or him?' Everybody would love to be in that position."
Shaquille O'Neal had the same sentiment last year in an appearance on the "Impaulsive" podcast. O'Neal told host Logan Paul that he felt jealous of LeBron James because he wanted to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record during his legendary career.
"People look at stats, right?" O'Neal said. "His stats are definitely going to be up there. To have passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I can truthfully say that I'm jealous of that feat."
Shaquille O'Neal scored a total of 28,596 points in his career. The LA Lakers legend is currently eighth on the all-time scoring list. It should also be noted that he could have been higher on the list if he wasn't a bad free throw shooter. He missed a total of 5,317 free throws in his career.
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Shaquille O'Neal tried to get LeBron James say he's the G.O.A.T.
After congratulating LeBron James on breaking the NBA's scoring record, Shaquille O'Neal goaded him to say that he's the greatest player of all time. James smiled and told Shaq that it was for everyone to decide, but was confident to give his opinion on it.
"I'm going to let everybody else decide who that is or just talk about it, but it's great barbershop talk," James said.
"Me personally, I'm going to take myself. I'm going to take myself against anybody that's ever played this game. But everyone's going to have their favorite, everyone's going to decide who their favorite is.
"I know what I've brought to the table. I know what I bring to the table every single night and what I can do out on this floor. I always feel like I'm the best to ever play this game, but there are so many other great ones and I'm just happy to be a part of their journey."
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