Shaquille O’Neal left a big legacy during his NBA career, playing for six teams and winning four NBA championships. O’Neal was also a 3-time NBA Finals MVP, an NBA MVP, and 15-time All-Star, it would be hard to call Shaq’s career anything but accomplished.
Not so to some on Twitter, as Shaq was forced to respond to a fan who claimed that “Even with all of this Shaq doesn’t win those rings without Kobe”, after responding to a tweet reviewing Shaq’s performances during the NBA Finals.
The big man did not hold back and responded to the user by stating that it’s always a team effort, “no person can win without another star big dummy how many would magic have without kareem how many would kenny smith have without hakeem wtf u talking about i hate dumb ass people enjoy my stats and stf up”.
Kenny Smith comes to defense of Shaq
Responding to the “hater” with a bit more eloquence was Kenny Smith who stated to TMZ Sports, “Shaq is 100% correct, it’s a team sport, the Lakers don’t have Robert Horry, Rick Fox, they don’t win either! There was a bunch of guys that contributed with us too, Clyde Drexler, Sam Cassell, you can’t win alone this ain’t tennis man.”
Shaquille O’Neal, host Ernie Johnson Jr., NBA analysts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley talk during a live telecast of “NBA on TNT” (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
During his time with the Lakers, Shaq averaged around 35 points per game during the Finals in his career but the supporting cast which included the late Kobe Bryant and other members were equally as critical to the team’s success. The Lakers with Shaq and company won three championships in a row from 2000- 2002.
