NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has seen it all during his time in the NBA. Over the course of his career, he faced a lot of criticism despite being one of the most dominant centers ever. However, Shaq came out strong and won four NBA titles, three Finals MVP awards, and one regular season MVP award. Fans around the world consider him an all-time great but it was not just handed to him. He had to earn it. After retiring, O’Neal has kept himself busy with his various endeavors. One of which is basketball analysis.

He talks about the game and the league on various platforms and gives his honest opinions. He has been critical of NBA star Ben Simmons in the last few months. Recently, Simmons appeared on JJ Reddick’s podcast and talked about some of the controversies surrounding him. During the sitdown, he also talked about Shaq’s criticisms.

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The All-Star talked about his criticism of giving up an open layup in game-7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks. And revealed his reason behind giving up the open look. But Shaq is not ready to hear any of it.

Shaquille O’Neal about handling criticism

Ben Simmons even invited all the critics to watch the game tape with him so he can break down what exactly happened. But Shaquille O’Neal stated that he has seen enough and doesn’t need to watch game tape. He then went ahead and talked about what one has to go through in the NBA to be successful.

Shaq said, “There’s a lot of things you have to go through. There’s ridicule, there’s criticism, there’s hate. Sometimes there’s hate from your own teammates and your own organization. But the ones that walk around like they are great and the ones that pretend to be great have to persevere. We have to get through all that. People talk about my free throws all the go***mn time.” 

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The former MVP disclosed he does not care about people talking about his free throws. He stated that after reaching a certain level, one would not bother about criticism. The Big Diesel became a superstar as soon as he stepped into the league. However, his superstardom and a huge contract with the Los Angeles Lakers came with enormous expectations.

Even after winning three straight titles for the Lakers and winning the finals MVP on all three occasions, he was criticized the next season. After the three-peat, the Lakers were knocked out in the second round of the playoffs. And the late Kobe Bryant reportedly called out Shaq, “Since it is his team, no more coming into camp fat and out of shape.”

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However, Shaq dealt with all the criticism and came out strong. Also, Bryant and O’Neal later mended things between them.