In order to praise Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander, Shaquille O’Neal even apologized to a fellow Big. It was last year’s MVP race where Nikola Jokic won, yet Shaq felt it was the Thunder guard’s time to shine. But the issues fighting for the OKC star led to a beef between the Lakers legend and Shannon Sharpe. Now, SGA already has the league MVP and the WCF MVP nod to his name, but the Big Aristotle this time falls short of words to explain the impact of the 26YO.
Let’s not forget that last year, O’Neal even made attempts to poach Shai from the contract with Converse. But even that did not materialize. Instead, Shai inked a multi-year signature-shoe deal with Converse, becoming its Creative Director, and earning a rumored $15 million a year. As the opportunity passed, we got to learn about the reaction from the Reebok President of the Basketball division.
“Not signing SGA kind of hurt me personally.” Why? “It’s personal because it’s a challenge, and I don’t like feelings. Now we had to rethink. I know SGA—we could have definitely made him a megastar. No knock against Converse, but forget him,” Shaq explained in the latest docuseries, Power Moves. This Netflix saga covered the highs and lows as Reebok tries to make a comeback under Shaq’s watch. So, no doubt that Shaquille O’Neal fully believes in the stardom of Shai.
Yet, when it came to explaining to the audience about the game resembled any former player, O’Neal’s answer was rather unexpected. “Ja and Shai are similar, they got a weird dope game, you can’t I can’t figure out; I can’t figure Shai off.” This revelation came on his latest podcast episode, where the guest was Zach Randolph. Z-Bo added his two cents but did not take a direct name. “I think he got, he played that old school game.”
That’s when Shaquille O’Neal felt he had no words to describe the 2025 MVP. “I’m sitting there trying to compare him to somebody I don’t know. Ja’s just like that, too.” The Thunder guard depends more on shooting from inside the paint rather than from beyond the arc. That’s why Randolph called it an old-school game.
That one time when there was no loss of words from Shaquille O’Neal for SGA
In 2023, when Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson assumed their duties as the new President and Vice President of Basketball Operations, they had a huge target to achieve. In order to close the gap to market leaders in Nike and Adidas, Reebok needed more representation. So, for WNBA, they had Angel Reese, Dink Pate for G-League, and this year’s draft pick, plus a high school sensation, Nate Ament. All they needed was a star player from the NBA.
USA Today via Reuters
Which is why courting Shai for Reebok made sense. “I heard his contract’s up [with Converse],” Shaquille O’Neal told the host. “The guy who doesn’t get enough respect is SGA. If I had to start with somebody, I would start with him. Because out of all the guys you talk about, my guy over here 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s these guys every time. And once we get people to look, I think they will gladly jump on board. That’s going to be my strategy just starting off.”
This conversation to praise was before he got to know about SGA signing with Converse. Even though then-Shaq had a lot of words, the only thing that remained constant was his analysis of the Thunder guard’s game. From last year to this year, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not underrated anymore, as this time around, apart from individual trophies, the NBA championship fate could also become true.
