Say what you want about Celtics Shaq… actually, don’t. The big man has run out of tolerance for his Celtics era being brought up every time sports fans want to call an aging pro-athlete a washout. Today Shaquille O’Neal was in a mood or his social media manager had the day off. He chose virtual violence when he got on X. First he fired back at Dwight Howard and extended their beef. At the same time he came across a shady post on X.com and had to respond. While Shaq did so, Paul George caught another stray.

An X page posted PG’s less than flex-worthy statline from the 76ers’ 99-109 loss to the Phoenix Suns today. George went “13 Points, 5-18 FG, 100% Washed.” Officially it’s 13 points, 5 assists, and 9 rebounds. The comment that came after, all in uppercase too, was hitting though. “SIXERS PG MIGHT BE UP THERE WITH CELTICS SHAQ.”

Now ‘Celtics Shaq’ has been the Internet’s synonym for athletic washouts for a while. In the 2010-11 season, Shaquille O’Neal was averaging 9.2 points, was injured a lot, and was on a retirement tour. Shaq doesn’t have much to show in his final season but he is apparently done with having his entire body of work disrespected with just his final year.

The “very quotacious” big guy went after this X page in a single statement. “Celtic shaq had four rings while u was cheering in your moms basement.” No defence for PG was included. But Shaq pretty much said keep his name out of your [virtual] mouth.

To paraphrase, say what you want about Paul George. Just keep Shaq out of it. Even though Big Diesel has a problem following that rule.

Shaq has his ways to criticize Paul George

When LeBron James turned 40, Shaquille O’Neal was one of the many jumping into the NBA era discourse. And he took an unwarranted dig at Paul George while he was at it.

He listed all the aging superstars on his Instagram Stories to highlight the 2010s dominated by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Paul George is coming to a close. True. But the way he did it was hilarious!

He listed everyone’s ages, but wrote “PG is an a–.” Now George’s declining form has become a big bone of contention in NBA discourse. Especially when the Sixers acquired him. So the criticism was coming. Shaq, with Sixers legend Charles Barkley, has been very critical about the team and PG on TNT. But this dig came out of left field and left the Internet floored.

At least Shaq didn’t make a Celtics Shaq reference.