Shaquille O'Neal Believes Rudy Gobert Is The Worst Player In NBA History

There is absolutely zero love lost between Shaquille O’Neal and Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert.

O’Neal’s son, Myles, hosted a podcast episode for Complex, and "The Big Shamrock" joined his kid on the podcast (like any good dad would). One of the questions Myles asked Shaq was who his "W.O.A.T" (worst of all time) NBA player is, and without skipping a beat, Shaq said Gobert.

Myles followed that up by asking if he thought Gobert was worse than Ben Simmons (no relation), and Shaq was quick to berate both. However, it wasn’t just because of how they play, it was their individual attitudes that bothered him so much.

"Ben Simmons is another bum," O’Neal said. "You know why? I’m going to tell you why. If you sign a contract for $250 [million], show me 250. There’s a reason why I walk funny, why I can’t turn my neck because I played for my [$120 million]."

"You got guys like him that f--- the system over there. They’re making all this money and they can’t f---ing play. I don’t respect guys like that. Like, every time I make these comments, people think I’m hating. But these are facts. You got teachers, you got firemen, you got doctors who have real jobs and don’t get paid s---."

While neither player has earned $250 million on their current contracts (Simmons got $177 million and Gobert $205 million), he has a point. Simmons takes a lot of time off for injuries. And while Gobert plays more, is a good basketball player, and has won three Defensive Player of the Year awards, he also doesn’t consistently light up the stat sheet, something Shaq has mentioned in the past.

"Twelve points and eight rebounds? I could do that s--- right now," O’Neal said on his "The Big Podcast" back in March when referring to Gobert’s stat totals at the time.

The Timberwolves center wasted no time in responding and called out O’Neal for his opinion.

Now look, I can understand both sides of this.

Shaq was a far more dominating force than Gobert, and was still paid far less (I know they were different eras, but still). However, Gobert also isn’t as bad of a player that Shaq portrays him as.

Maybe both of these guys should do a one-on-one battle to settle their differences. Wouldn’t that be entertaining?