USA Basketball went on an impressive run to win the gold medal for men’s basketball at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The top prize required a massive comeback win over Serbia in the semifinal and some superhuman efforts from Stephen Curry and LeBron James throughout the tournament. But one person it didn’t necessarily impress was former Los Angeles Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal.
O’Neal, the former Laker and Miami Heat star as well as Hall of Famer, has never been shy about sharing his opinion on a number of topics. If he feels a certain way about a player or style of play in the modern NBA, he’ll swiftly call it out in either a comedic or serious way.
But he didn’t have much to say about the 2024 Olympic men’s basketball team, in part because he admitted to not watching. He explained why via The Big Podcast with O’Neal and Adam Lefkoe:
Shaq says he wasn’t paying attention to the Olympics.
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— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) August 20, 2024
One of the popular sayings at the 2024 Olympics for men’s basketball was that, while the United States still won gold, the rest of the world is starting to catch up. Talent levels are higher and the differences between the NBA and FIBA games are much more apparent.
For some reason, O’Neal didn’t feel like watching this play out. He heard about the team’s narrow victory over South Sudan during exhibition play, although they won far more convincingly when the two teams met in the actual tournament. And while the United States was tested at times, they still walked away with the gold and a high margin of victory.
But the former Lakers great wants to stay away from that, as he tries to remember the truly dominant Team USA that he was a part of.
Shaquille O’Neal included in Allen Iverson’s all-time starting five
Allen Iverson, a former player much more known for the way that he celebrates the modern game, gave his all-time starting five and included a trio of Lakers. He had Stephen Curry starting at the point, with Michael Jordan at the two. But from there, he had Kobe Bryant in the small forward position, LeBron James at power forward and Shaquille O’Neal at center.
His list not only had three Lakers, but three players in Bryant, Curry and James whose entire — or a huge majority of — careers were played after Iverson’s prime.
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