Shaq throws shade at Kobe, Dwyane Wade over NBA Finals
By Josh Hill
Shaquille O’Neal has played on more than a few NBA championship rosters, but he’s never going to admit that he needed help to win — unless it’s concerning LeBron James.
The level of respect that Shaquille O’Neal has for his fellow superstars isn’t very high, mainly because Shaq believe that he’s the greatest player of his generation and no one is going to change his mind. Of course, he’ll concede on challenges against Michael Jordan’s legacy but try and tell Shaq that he needed Kobe and Dwyane Wade to win titles and you’ll know what it feels like to have a size 16 boot shoved where you don’t want it to go.
But there’s one player that Shaq will halfway admit was a star that might not have needed him to win a title.
Before Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Shaq took time to praise LeBron James for being a leader while simultaneously throwing some serious shade at Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade.
Simply put, Shaq doesn’t think that Wade or Kobe were much help to winning titles the years they did with Shaq on their respective rosters.
Wade won his first of three NBA rings with Shaq’s help back in 2006 and then used LeBron James to win his second and third titles. So while Shaq is throwing shade at both Kobe and Wade, it’s more derogatory for Wade since he not only used Shaq to get a ring but used LeBron James too.
Shaq throwing shade at Kobe is notable but hardly surprising at this point. In fact, it’s basically assumed that whenever Shaq opens his mouth, some sort of shade is going to be thrown at Kobe even if he’s not trying.
Of course, Shaq listed the only player he didn’t win a title with as the superstar who didn’t need him to win — which is sort of like passing the buck to say it wasn’t Shaq’s fault the Cavaliers didn’t win a title.
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