Shaquille O’Neal Clarifies His Drama: NBA World Reacts

The biggest rivalry in the NBA right now involves a legend and an All-Star center. Over the past few days, Shaquille O’Neal and Rudy Gobert have been debating the prospect of them going head-to-head on the hardwood. 

Gobert opened up about his thoughts on this hypothetical matchup in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks. 

“Yes, I do think I could lock him up,” Gobert told Rooks. “I’m never gonna look at someone, whoever it is, and say, ‘Yeah, you would score 40 on me.’ That’s not my mentality. I would love to go against prime Shaq, it would be a great challenge for me.”

O’Neal responded to those comments during his own discussion with Rooks, revealing that his previous remarks towards Gobert should be used as motivation. 

“You know what, Rudy? I respect that. I really do. So a lot of times when I throw jabs, people think it’s hate, or whatever,” O’Neal said. “But it’s really, I’m just challenging him, because this thing we have right now is so good. If it continues to be great, everybody will prosper. That’s how you gotta look at it.” 

O’Neal then posted the following message on Twitter: “I don’t have the time or energy to hate. My words are strictly for motivation.” 

The responses to those comments from O’Neal are mixed. There are some fans who believe that he’s trying to motivate Gobert. Others, however, think he’s being a “hater.”

At the end of the day, it seems like Gobert and O’Neal are both taking the right approach to this situation. 

Obviously, Gobert could use O’Neal’s words as bulletin-board material if he really wants to. Whether or not he’ll do that though is unclear.