The much anticipated 2021-22 NBA season kicked off with an entertaining double header on TNT Tuesday night. The first matchup featured the Milwaukee Bucks against the Brooklyn Nets with the Bucks receiving their championship rings, followed by a matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors.
The real fireworks started in the pregame show with Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley debating the top centers in Lakers’ history. After Shaq listed himself in the top-three—under Kareem Abdul Jabbar and above Wilt Chamberlain—Barkley voiced his own thoughts on the take:
“YOU’RE NOT BETTER THAN WILT. STOP IT!”
“YOU’RE NOT BETTER THAN WILT. STOP IT!”
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 19, 2021
Welcome back to another edition of Shaq vs. Chuck 🤣 pic.twitter.com/CWB3squoTT
Last year, Barkley shared his own list of the top 10 NBA players of all time—which included Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Shaq wasn’t too happy then that he wasn’t included.
“I have a problem with your list, Chuck,” O’Neal said on “Inside The NBA” on TNT. “You ain’t got me in the top 10. Whatever you’re smoking down there in Reno, you need to take it back to wherever you got it from.”The Inside the NBA panel showed the League’s all-time 75 players to celebrate their 75th anniversary. The list included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain.
In response, Barkley made sure to note just how dominate the four-time NBA champ truly was:
“I’ve never seen anybody like Shaq. Ever. Shaq is the most dominant big man ever, in my opinion,” Barkley said. “But, I put him behind Magic, Bird, LeBron, and Kobe. I didn’t put him behind anyone crazy.”
