Few sports debates are as entertaining and enduring as those that center around a hypothetical five-on-five basketball game or series featuring all-time NBA greats. On Sunday night, one of those same greats–Shaquille O’Neal–waded into the treacherous waters of NBA Twitter to fire off his own take.
Ever one for stirring up controversial discussion, O’Neal shared a graphic on social media that pitted five of game’s retired all-timers–Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and the Big Diesel himself–against five players currently tearing their way though the league–Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Shaq then make his opinion clear that if there was a series between the two groups that he was taking the squad composed of former players, even going as far as to say that they would win 4–2 in a best-of-seven.
“Four games to two. You already know who I’m with. Don’t ask me,” the O’Neal wrote on Twitter. “Also who’s guarding me?!”
Although he didn’t say so explicitly, O’Neal’s pick is fairly obvious. He’s also already been known to question which current players would be able to guard him, which is a fair question to ask.
Of course, the same could be said for just about any of the other nine players in the graphic. Watching the younger team try to stop the elite scoring of Jordan, Bryant or Bird would be a treat, while the old guard would have to think about stretching out their defense to slow down the shooting of Curry or Durant, never mind the otherworldly athleticism of James or Antetokounmpo.
As is always the case, the comparison of basketball across eras is an impossible task. Still, debating the hypothetical matchup never gets old, even for a Hall of Famer such as Shaq.
