While Michael Jordan’s aerial ability and the “His Airness” title made up a huge chunk of his basketball legacy, Shaquille O’Neal didn’t hesitate to look elsewhere. When it came to his Mount Rushmore dunkers list, the Diesel crowned Dwight Howard over the biggest name in the sport.
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“So, there are two types of dunkers. There are the flair dunkers and the power dunkers. I have four for both. Vince is the greatest dunker of all time,” Shaq stated during a recent appearance on the Rushmore podcast on September 15, 2026.
“Shawn Kemp. Dominique (Wilkins)… You talk about flair,” he kept adding. “I’m going to have to exclude Michael Jordan because Dr J (Julius Erving) was the first to do that. So, I’m gonna go with Dr J.”
The NBA world hasn’t forgotten Jordan’s power dunk on a taunting 7’2 Dikembe Mutombo and the Atlanta Hawks in the 1997 Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Be it a Putback Dunk Off Scottie Pippen’s free throw, a cradle dunk against the 1984 NYK, or dunking from the free-throw line, Air Jordan has done it all.
But Shaq didn’t buy into it. Not only did Jordan miss the cut to his flair dunkers list, but he didn’t make it among the power dunkers either. O’Neal picked Howard instead, despite the decades-old feud between the two.
“Power dunkers: me, Shawn Kemp, Darryl Dawkins, and Dwight Howard,” he added to the same podcast segment.
His hesitance to name Howard didn’t escape Reggie Miller’s attention, though. The Indiana Pacers’ legend immediately hit Shaq with: “He regurgitated that out. He could barely say Dwight; he didn’t want to say it.”
Moreover, Miller did agree with Vince Carter’s supremacy and credited Erving. But ticking Michael Jordan off both lists just didn’t make sense. And who can blame him? Across his 18-season career and 56 encounters with His Airness, he hate-loved MJ, respected him, and drove him nuts.
But most importantly, he watched greatness unfolding on the hardwood up close. So did Shaq.
“I love Dr J. That’s great, but to exclude Michael Jordan off your list, as many times as you saw that tongue coming at you,” the former Pacers star and Hall of Famer protested.
But it didn’t sway O’Neal. He claimed that Howard “dunks hard,” and pulled up the clip of Carter’s Dunk of Death over French center Frédéric Weis during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Consequently, it won over Jordan’s iconic baseline dunk during Game 3 of the 1991 NBA Playoffs against the Knicks.
“This and this are two different types of dunks,” Shaq pointed out. “Jordan’s baseline versus the Knicks, like, it’s a nice move and a nice dunk. But Vince jumping over the guy at the Olympics.”
The argument remained.
Jordan might be the best to ever play the sport, to revolutionize and redefine it. But Shaquille O’Neal would sit MJ out of this one, nevertheless.