"I don’t seen Mike, I don’t seen Kobe, I don’t seen D-Wade" - Shaquille O'Neal refuses to call players who have not proven they can consistently lead a team "superstars"

Shaquille O'Neal isn’t buying into the idea that the NBA is filled with superstars. He feels only a few players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic can be called superstars.

O'Neal referred to many of today’s hoopers as good players with talent, but stressed that until they prove themselves and showcase leadership, they cannot be described as greats.

On “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” the LA Lakers legend had this to say about how loosely the word "superstar" is used to describe players:

“I don’t seen Mike [Jordan], I don’t seen Kobe, I don’t seen D-Wade, I don’t seen Penny Hardaway, I don’t seen LeBron, I don’t seen Kevin Johnson, I don’t seen Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Tim Duncan.

“If you ain’t doin' what they did or 'bout they did, don’t be looking for me to call you no superstar. I don’t seen it at all. I don’t play with made men. Embiid, made men. These little abject failures that you all talking about now? Get them out of my face. … I don’t think so!”

Shaquille O'Neal also named Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell as two players who have been wrongly called superstars. He only considers players superstars if they are box-office draws, excellent leaders and consistent winners, particularly in the playoffs.

O'Neal refused to call Gobert and Mitchell superstars because they haven’t had much playoff success. They’ve been great in the regular season, but their success hasn’t translated in the postseason.

He also noted that the Utah Jazz didn’t want to build around the two players. He claimed that if Utah believed they were superstars, they would have kept both and retooled the supporting cast.

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Shaquille O'Neal defends Dwyane Wade’s championships

Dwyane Wade has three championships on his resume. He won his first title shortly after Shaquille O'Neal was traded from the LA Lakes to the Miami Heat. His second and third titles came alongside LeBron James and Chris Bosh.

When the Heat won the 2006 NBA championship, it was “D-Wade” who carried Miami to the title, not Shaq. Against that background, Shaq insisted that detractors had no ammunition with which to target Wade.