Whatever Rudy Gobert achieves, it never seems enough to impress 4x NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal. Be it his ability on offense or his massive contract, O’Neal never leaves the chance to criticize the 3x Defensive Player of the Year. Now that the Frenchman is in the running for another DPOY award, Shaq came out swinging yet again. And this time, he has found support from 3x All-Star Gilbert Arenas, who condemned Gobert.

Talking to Shannon Sharpe on ‘Nightcap’, Gil revealed why he agrees with Shaquille O’Neal, opposing everyone’s stance on Gobert being a great defensive player. The NBA on TNT host mentioned in The Big Podcast by Shaq that Gobert, who already has 3 DPOY titles to his name and is currently the favorite for this year’s as well, is an overrated defender.

Putting in his views, Arenas said, “Because of these (the criteria to choose DPOY), Rudy Golbert is a five-man. Let’s look at these stats. He has only played Jokic one time this year. Jokic had 25-10. Of course, he played Wembanyama four times ’cause he is a rookie. 29-9, 12-10, 17-13, 23-10 is what Wemby gave him. He played Embiid one time. Embiid gave him 51-10. He’s played AD two times, 31-8, 33-17. And then last game, he was a no-show.“

Continuing his observations, Arenas added, “The guys who can score are busting his a** which means he’s not a great on-ball defender. Meaning when his guy has the ball, and he’s in the scoring position, he can’t stop ’em. You’re getting credits for things that has nothing to do with you personally. You’re getting defensive stops, but you’re not stopping the guy who scores on you. I can see why Shaq is saying this.”

The 3x NBA All-Star also mentioned the factors determining DPOY selection. These include steals, blocks, defensive rebounding, team-defense efficiency, and plus-minus when they are on and off the floor. He is undeniably on the same page with Shaq. But what did O’Neal exactly say about Rudy Gobert?

Did Shaquille O’Neal bring the right Gobert facts to the table?

Shaq recently made his observations clear about the DPOY-favorite Rudy Gobert on his podcast. He said, “I never thought he was a great defensive player, either. What it is, there’s not a lot of centers that are making him play defense. He’s not doing it against Joker because he has to be engaged. But when he’s going against another guy, he’s 7’6, of course, if you lay it up, he’s going to block it.”

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The Hall of Famer also said that a defender should be able to do so in every position. Additionally, he agreed with his guest Mario Chalmers to give the trophy to Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat. He also gave Gobert a task to hold Joker under 15 points to impress him. He added, “All that weakside blocking shots, that’s cool but it ain’t going to work against guys like me and Joker and Embiid.”

Seems like the verdict is quite clear on where many NBA legends stand. They do not believe that the Minnesota Timberwolves star would stand a chance against Shaq, Embiid, or Nikola Jokic– who may even take down the current President of the Big Man Alliance. It would be interesting to see if Gobert can keep up with everyone’s expectations to bag another DPOY to his name.

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