“I say four games to two”: Shaquille O'Neal re-ignites debate about “favorite players” with unique take

Comparing today's era of elite players to those who came before, Shaquille O'Neal knows which side he's on. Recently, the Hall of Fame big man shared a "Who would win?" picture on Instagram, where he was paired alongside Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson against LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The "4-2" response was no surprise.

"All these players on the top row are my favorite players," O'Neal said, "However, I say four games to two."

Before he answered the query, O'Neal made sure that he showed appreciation for the players on the top portion of the image. He said they were his "favorite players" in the modern era of the NBA.

O'Neal believes Jordan, Iverson and he should have no problem matching up against James, Curry and Antetokounmpo.

A three-on-three matchup with these players would be worth watching, especially with the Lakers legend making his presence down low.

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Shaquille O'Neal gives an honest take on today's NBA players

Regarding ranking and comparing NBA players across different eras of basketball, Shaquille O'Neal gave his honest opinion in an interview on the "Fluent & Chill" podcast.

"The game is different," O'Neal said, "the way they play is different. I get upset when you guys throw the word dominant around. Like I did what I did with three or four people on me every night... I have to stop trying to compare everybody to my league and era. Maybe I have to loosen up a little bit."

"Dominant to me is you have three guys on this guy, and you can't stop him," O'Neal said, "To me, dominant is people having to change the rules. I love all the players they have now, but I wouldn't use the word, dominant. I would use very good, I would use great.

O'Neal wasn't too fond of the media or even NBA fans calling a definite player "dominant" in today's era. To refer to an NBA player as dominant, the rules should differ when defending or slowing him down.

In O'Neal's case, his basketball dominance was one of the main factors why he experienced the "Hack-a-Shaq" tactic. Sports Brief's Helix Odhiambo said former Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson had created this strategy first, and Dennis Rodman was the first to have experienced it in 1997.

At the time, Rodman was still playing for the Chicago Bulls and shot 55.0% from the free throw line that season. Nelson would continue using the defensive move on other players, specifically O'Neal, who was a career 52.7% free-throw shooter.