Former NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal is livid with his ranking on ESPN’s list of the best ten NBA players of all time. The 15-time NBA All-Star feels he should have been ranked much higher than 10thand is also not happy that late Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant was ranked only 9th.
Curry and Olajuwon Didn’t Make the List Too
Shaq went to Twitter to vent his anger and asked followers if they agreed with the Top 10 rankings because he didn’t. “KOBE #9 and me #10??? Hell to the nawwww,” O’Neal wrote.
And Shaq is not alone. Former Knicks and Clippers star Jamal Crawford is also not happy with the rankings. The 3-time NBA Sixth Player of the Year asked ESPN to explain how they managed to disrespect Kobe by not including him in the Top 5, saying he wouldn’t recognize any list in which Bryant wasn’t top five.
Other notable omissions from ESPN’s list include 2-time NBA Championship winner Hakeem Olajuwon and Warriors’ Stephen Curry. Julius Erving was also excluded from the Top 10 but made Shaq’s top five list back in March when O’Neal ranked the 3-time ABA/NBA winner as one of the best five players in NBA history.
Here’s the controversial ESPN Top 10 list in full:
- Michael Jordan
- LeBron James
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Bill Russell
- Magic Johnson
- Wilt Chamberlain
- Larry Bird
- Tim Duncan
- Kobe Bryant
- Shaquille O’Neal
