Shaquille O’Neal shaded Rudy Gobert again by using SGA’s contract as reference – “That is what $70 million looks like” originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Los Angeles Lakers Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal has a long history with Rudy Gobert. O’Neal has always been critical of the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year winner, from saying he was not worth the assets he was traded for, to saying he was not worth the massive contract the Minnesota Timberwolves gave him after acquiring him from the Utah Jazz.
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It seems like the Gobert trade was eons ago. But despite that, Shaq has not forgotten Rudy’s “sins” against “The Big Man Alliance.”
“My problem is from player to consumer. When the consumer causes you to make big money, you have to play big. So if you’re going to be making 250, just play like you’re making 250. That’s all I ask. And I am the leader. I’m the god. I am the ruler of the “Big Man Alliance.” When somebody wins four championships, they can replace me,” said Shaq during his recent appearance on the “Off the Record” podcast.
He should have knocked Braun’s teeth out
While dissing Gobert again, O’Neal showed a video footage of Rudy’s dust-up with Denver Nuggets forward Christian Braun last November 2024 during a regular season game between the Wolves and Nuggets after the Braun dunked on Gobert and celebrated the dunk in his face.
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According to O’Neal, Gobert is 7’1″ and is a four-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, so he should protect the paint as such. Instead of being angry after getting dunked on, he said Gobert should have prevented Braun from dunking on him, even if that meant he had to knock his teeth out. Shaq then proceeded to compare Rudy’s money with what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recently got.
“Congratulations to Shai, that’s what 70 million looks like. You ain’t got nothing to say about that 70 million. The best player in the league by far. Did his thing throughout the year, one of the three players to get a regular season MVP, Finals MVP, and score 3,000 points. He deserves that. So when you pay a guy 70 million, that’s the outcome. That’s how it’s supposed to look,” O’Neal continued.
Gobert has already played out the big contract
Two weeks ago, the newly crowned NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, signed Gilgeous-Alexander to a four-year supermax extension worth $285 million, giving him an average salary of $71.25 million, the largest-ever at the time the deal was announced. But while O’Neal was correct that SGA deserves every penny of whatever the Thunder is paying him, comparing his contract to Gobert’s was off.
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The Frenchman has already played out the disputed five-year $205 million deal, which he signed when he was still in Utah. Before the start of last season, Gobert declined his $46.6 million player option for the 2025-26 season to sign a smaller three-year deal worth $110 million. That means he will be making just $35 million next season, or $11 million less than what he was supposed to earn as per his old contract.
This isn’t the only time that Gobert took a discount to help his team’s finances. When he signed that $205 million deal in 2020, many people didn’t realize his max amount that year was $228 million, but he took less to help the Jazz add more pieces. In contrast, Shaq once admitted that the real reason why he left the Lakers was because they asked him to take less money and he wouldn’t. But of course, he’ll answer back by saying he had three rings back then, and Rudy has none.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 19, 2025, where it first appeared.