The Ben Simmons trade saga finally ended earlier this month when the Sixers traded him to Brooklyn Nets. However, Simmons is yet to make his debut for the Nets and is working on his conditioning. Despite so much criticism around his game, former Warriors star Rick Barry is optimistic about his growth and claimed he could be the future Shaquille O’Neal.

Simmons is a generational talent, and nothing can change that. The 25-year-old Australian is yet to reach his full potential and could become one of the best players in the league. However, only time will tell how he performs alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at the Nets.

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Golden State Warriors legend Rick Barry feels the Australian has immense potential and could turn into a Shaquille O’Neal prototype if he improves on one skill.

Rick Barry feels Ben Simmons could be like Shaquille O’Neal in the future

Marc Stein recently interviewed former Warriors star, Rick Barry. Barry talked about Ben Simmons‘ potential and said that he needs to master one skill to be like Shaq.

“He definitely could be fixed,” Barry said. “If (Simmons) was an 80 percent shooter, with his size, he would be like Shaq. You could take him and post up those little guards and he would just abuse them — and he could hope he got fouled. He would be such a dominant factor. He becomes one of the best players in the league.”

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Shaquille O’Neal was one of the most dominant players of his generation. He dominated the NBA for around a decade and won four championships in the process. Shaq’s career FG% in the regular season is 58.2 and in playoffs is 56.3. Ben Simmons, on the other hand, has a career average FG% of 59.7 in the regular season.

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However, Simmons’ shooting was criticized last season when the Sixers crashed out of the playoffs. Since then, he was engaged in a standoff with the Sixers. But now, he has the chance to revive his form and make a strong comeback.