Rudy Gobert and Shaq have had an ongoing feud over the last few years. Shaq doesn’t seem to like Gobert very much as he continuously calls into question the big man’s skill set. Whenever a big player is having a solid season defensively, Shaq begins to take it personally, and he never stops slandering people, even if the beef is well past its expiration date. That was certainly the case with Dwight Howard, and it is the case again with Rudy Gobert.
During an episode of his Big Podcast With Shaq, the former Lakers legend straight up said that Gobert could never guard him and that he would score about 12 points in just three minutes.
“12 points? Yeah, in the first three minutes,” Shaq said. “Let me tell you something, man. It’s against my religion for somebody to hold me one-on-one. I take that personally. I do. […] First play of the game I always used to look and see what the defense is going to do. Like ‘Okay, he’s doubling from Spice [Adams]. Spice is going to be wide open for the jumper. Like, I always look at the first play. But if I get it and nobody’s coming, I take that as a sign of disrespect. You know what I’m going to do to him? He’s a shot blocker. You can’t shoot a shot. You’ve got to back his little skinny ass up under the rim. Show him the ‘bow so he gets scared and just go up.”
A clip from this podcast made its way to Instagram, and as you can imagine, Gobert saw it. The Jazz star was not just going to sit there and take any slander, so he decided to clap back saying ““I would lock his ass up.”
Most NBA fans probably rolled their eyes at Gobert here especially since he’s struggled a bit when the lights shine the brightest. Either way, it’s clear that he and Shaq will continue to go back and forth for years to come.