From idolizing Michael Jordan—posters on the wall and all—to trading blows with his hero on the court, Shaquille O’Neal’s journey from fanboy to foe is NBA lore. The Diesel has long crowned MJ his GOAT, and their clashes delivered gems, like the time a rookie Shaq leveled Jordan with a hard foul, only to sheepishly offer a hand. His Airness? He brushed it off, stood tall, and dropped this ice-cold wisdom: “Don’t ever help anybody up.” That killer instinct clicked for the Big Aristotle, turning raw power into dominance. But did Jordan’s shadow truly cap Shaq’s Orlando ceiling?

The debate reignited on Gil’s Arena, where host Gilbert Arenas welcomed Tracy McGrady—another Magic alum—for a marathon chat that clocked nearly two hours. The seven-time All-Star doubled down: Pair him with prime Shaq in Orlando, and rings would’ve followed. Nick Young wasn’t buying it, firing back, “I don’t know, Penny Hardaway didn’t get one.” Fair point—before the Kobe-Shaq dynasty, O’Neal and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway formed the league’s flashiest duo, blending Diesel force with Penny’s wizardry. Yet zero titles materialized. Enter the ultimate scapegoat: Michael Jordan.

Arenas laid it bare, pinning the blame squarely on MJ’s Bulls reign. “Shaq didn’t win championships in there because there was a n—– named Michael Jordan,” Gil said. “Did y’all forget there was Michael Jordan in the NBA back then? He was whooping ass before [he] retired. So you had two years to win. Shaq’s team wasn’t ready. He was young when he got there. When he did develop, Jordan was back.”

When Shaquille O’Neal entered the league, ṀJ already had 3 titles to his name. In Shaq’s rookie year, the Bulls would go on to win a three-peat, and Jordan subsequently retired for the first time. However, as we all know, his Airness would return and win three straight titles again. Jordan’s 4th championship and his first after returning came in the 1995-96 season. Yes, and this was the final season for Shaq in Orlando. That year, the Magic made it to the Conference Finals, but were swept by the Bulls.

In that conference finals series, Michael Jordan did Michael Jordan things. Being the top scorer, MJ averaged 29.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.3 steals, while shooting 52% from the field. On the other hand, Shaquille O’Neal did his bit by averaging a double-double with 27 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1.5 steals on an impressive FG% of 64%. But in his final game wearing the Magic jersey, it was Jordan who scored 45 points as the Bulls completed the sweep 4-0.

Losing to Michael Jordan turned out to be a winning lesson for Shaquille O’Neal

Before losing out to the Bulls in the Conference Finals, the Shaq and Penny duo led the team to the NBA Finals a season prior. But they ended up losing 4-0 again this time to Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets. Shaquille O’Neal averaged 28.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in 4 games in the 1995 NBA Finals.

Yet he has said numerous times that losing the finals to the Houston Rockets was his fault. The finals were also an important milestone since Shaq had defeated Michael Jordan in the Eastern Conference semifinals en route to his first final appearance.

Shaq has brought it up before. The team had 10 days off after beating the then-three-time champions. They were on an emotional high of beating ‘His Airness’. Not many in the ’90s walked away with the feeling of beating Jordan in a playoff series. As O’Neal claims, mentally, he was checked out, and it came back to bite them. Looking back at it now, all Shaquille O’Neal can think is, “‘You d——- You could’ve got Orlando their first championship.’” That defeat instilled a different mentality in him that he never forgot.

“‘If I ever get back to the Finals, imma f—– kill everybody.’” Guess what? Shaq made the most of his promise and won three straight finals with the Lakers. And was also the Finals MVP for three straight years. But this domination came after MJ returned for the second time, playing with the Washington Wizards and clearly not in his prime.