Shaquille O’Neal & Shannon Sharpe Engage In Heated War Of Words Following Shaq’s Strange MVP Interview With Nikola Jokic

Shaquille O’Neal and Shannon Sharpe (Photos via Roy Rochlin/Getty Images and Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Get your popcorn ready, folks. NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal and NFL legend Shannon Sharpe have engaged in quite the social media feud.

Shaquille O’Neal made headlines during his interview with 2024 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic on Wednesday. Speaking to the Denver Nuggets star on TNT, O’Neal congratulated Jokic but told him he believed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder should have won the MVP instead:

During the latest episode of “Nightcap”, Shannon Sharpe opined that O’Neal is jealous of Jokic, who has won three of the last four NBA MVP awards. Sharpe claimed that O’Neal is “envious” of Jokic since “Shaq is never brought up” in the greatest of all time (GOAT) conversations.

Sharpe added more fuel by stating that O’Neal would have had 40,000 career points if he had the Pro Football Hall of Famer’s “work ethic.”

O’Neal took to Instagram to clap back at Sharpe, telling the three-time Super Bowl champion, “if you ain’t ranked in the top ten in your profession, then you can’t speak on Me.”

O’Neal may have thought Gilgeous-Alexander deserved the MVP Award, but the voting results weren’t even close. Jokic had 79 first-place votes and 926 total points, compared to 15 first-place votes and 640 points for SGA.

Shaquille O’Neal & Shannon Sharpe Are Among The Best Ever At Their Sports

Regardless of how O’Neal and Sharpe feel about each other’s playing careers, they’re both unquestionably among the greatest ever at their respective sports.

O’Neal is unquestionably a top-10 player all time, with four NBA championships, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, 15 All-Star selections and 28,596 career points. O’Neal put the Orlando Magic on the map in the mid-90s, then proved to be the difference-maker for the Los Angeles Lakers and later the Miami Heat.

With three Super Bowl rings, eight Pro Bowl nods, four First-team All-Pro selections, a spot on the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team and a place in Canton, Sharpe’s resume speaks for itself. Not bad for a seventh-round pick out of Savannah State in 1990.