“Victor Wembanyama is a great player. But I don’t really think you can be dominant when you shoot jumpers a lot…” Back in September, Shaquille O’Neal dropped his prediction on the Spurs superstar, who finished with a unanimous ROTY and second in the DPOY race just last season. But what if the self-proclaimed Most Dominant Ever came face-to-face with the French phenom? The Lakers’ legend answered it but did not back the young star. But a former 3x NBA champion was not convinced and backed Wemby, which earned a response from Shaq.

“Wemby does not seem like a kid that would quit,” said Danny Green on the “Runt it Back” podcast a week ago. “Yes, he would have bullied these guys. He would be able to do that on the offensive end of the floor. But on the defensive end of the floor, Shaq would have had problems guarding those guys.” The former Spurs star flipped Shaq’s comment about Wemby shooting too many jump shots to prove his point.

“You’re not blocking those jump shots. They would have given him a lot of hell.” While Green believes the likes of Wembanyama as well as Oklahoma City Thunder star big man, Chet Holmgren, would’ve given Shaq fits on the offensive side of things. The 3x NBA champion credits Shaquille O’Neal for being better offensively due to his  “bully ball” style. Green brought up a time when his former teammate, Embiid, dominated Wembanyama by scoring 70 points in a single outing.

“It’s no different than what we’ve seen with what Joel [Embiid] did to Wemby his rookie year. But Wemby’s learned from that, he didn’t quit against Joel and Shaq and Joel aren’t that much different in size.” But if we know Shaq, he is the one to set the record straight every time. So, he simply responded with “But how they gonna guard me im not known for defense.” It comes full circle as the Lakers’ legend was the one who started the conversation.

Shaquille O’Neal’s claims put the entire modern-day Bigs on notice

It all started when the Diesel on the NBA on TNT answered how he would match up against a 2025 Nikola Jokic. A 2025 Joker is no joke, because the Nuggets superstar ended the regular season in the top 3 for points per game, rebounds, assists, and steals. He became the first player in NBA history to rank in the season’s top 10 in those four categories. However, Shaquille O’Neal did not change his stance.

“I’m getting 40, and they’re gonna have to double me..I hit way more twos than he can hit threes.” But this was about Jokic, so did we reach the Wemby comparison? On The Big Podcast, the Hall of Famer answered whether the rise of Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren could shift the DNA of the league. In pure Shaq style, the answer was, “No. And I hate putting myself forward in time, but I will make both them a–es quit.”

Over the decades, Shaquille O’Neal has never backed down by calling himself the Most Dominant Ever. In fact, the President of the Big Man Alliance will only share the title with Wilt Chamberlain. Exactly, not even with the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and David Robinson. So, it’s understandable why he would back himself against the current players like Wembanyama and Holmgren.