It seems like Shaquille O’Neal’s feud with Rudy Gobert isn’t going to end anytime soon. The NBA legend took another shot at the Minnesota Timberwolves center on Sunday, sharing two Instagram reels of Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun dunking over Gobert.
The 6-foot-6 Nuggets guard caught the 7-foot-1 Rudy Gobert in a spectacular two-handed poster slam on Friday. Ultimately, however, the Timberwolves prevailed over the Nuggets, 119-116.
The four-time Defensive Player of the Year did not appreciate getting taunted after being posterized, so he moved to shove Christian Braun twice, with several Nuggets players including Russell Westbrook looking to strike back, but cooler heads prevailed in the end. Both Gobert and Braun would be called for a double technical foul for their antics.
Last Friday’s poster dunk wasn’t the first, as Braun had previously dunked over Rudy Gobert last season. There wasn’t any hostility between Braun and Gobert the first time it happened, though Shaq still found it interesting to share along with the latest one for his followers to see.
Shaq really shared two IG stories of Rudy Gobert getting dunked on by Christian Braun.😂
(📹: Shaq on IG) pic.twitter.com/aRB8UaIpWu
— Luka Magic (@luka_magician) November 4, 2024
Shaquille O’Neal explains his disdain for Rudy Gobert
Shaquille O’Neal has never been fond of Rudy Gobert since way back in 2020 when the French center signed a massive five-year, $205-million contract extension with the Utah Jazz. The four-time NBA champion criticized Gobert’s lack of offense or his lack of development in that aspect.
He even called the Frenchman the “worst player in the NBA” when he guested on his son Myles O’Neal’s podcast in September.
“If you sign a contract for ($250 million), show me you’re 250,” Shaq said. “There’s a reason why I walk funny and why I can’t turn my neck and why I can’t do it because I played for my ($120 million). So you got guys like him that [redacted] the system over and they’re making all this money and they can’t [redacted] play. So I don’t respect guys like that.”
“Diesel” doubled down on his criticism of Gobert in his guest appearance on “The OG’s Podcast” with Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller in September. He said that he’s trying to light a fire in the players he criticizes and yet they misconstrue it as “hating.”
“A lot of these big men, when I put out these challenges, they fail the test because they respond,” O’Neal said. “They’re sensitive. When I speak, I try to speak from facts. It may come out wrong and you may think I’m hating. His comment, ‘You’re trying to stay relevant,’ I got 15 commercials. What the f**k you talking about?”
Shaquille O’Neal’s criticism of Rudy Gobert will apparently find no end until the French center wins an NBA championship for his team, or at least gets his teammates to the playoffs.
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