Shaquille O’Neal has followed plenty of Michael Jordan’s footsteps. When MJ told him never to help the guy he knocks down, Big Diesel took it to heart. Jordan built the Jumpman brand with Nike; Shaq launched Dunkman with Reebok. MJ turned into a savvy investor after basketball, and Shaq followed suit. Yet, there’s one lesson from the GOAT that Shaq is not fully on board with.

Shaquille O’Neal did a little U-turn from his previous advice to NBA players. With MJ back on NBC, he was ready to take His Airness‘ word as the law. Till Jordan spoke on load management. On Rich Eisen’s show, O’Neal played fast and loose about Michael Jordan’s stance, saying, “I mean, I wanted to play every single game also, but…”

“A lot of times I had knick-knack injuries, and I was better served to the organization playing at a super high level. And a lot of times when you get these knick-knack injuries, it just kind of slows you down a little bit. And me being slowed down, like me being a regular Shaq, was not good for anybody,” the big man further highlighted.

But all of this started with one comment from MJ: “I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove…the fans are there to watch me play. I wanted to impress that guy way up on top who probably worked his ass off to get a ticket or to get the money to buy the ticket.” Even Carmelo Anthony, one of Jordan Brand’s earliest ambassadors, stressed he always wanted to play before disagreeing with MJ’s load management stance.

Shaquille O’Neal, meanwhile, has wavered on the issue himself. At times, he’s blasted today’s NBA as “soft” for resting stars. Other times, he’s acknowledged that modern sports science makes a strong case for it. Yet that San Antonio teen who yearned for Air Jordans inside Shaq couldn’t completely disregard his idol’s advice. “But listen, you can never dispute what the greatest player of all time says. You know, he wanted to play, and he did play a lot of those games, and his formula worked for him.”

The formula Shaq went by was very different from what Michael Jordan recommended.

Shaq had his own version of Michael Jordan’s principles

“If Jordan says you should do this, you should do it. Like, a lot of times instead of being into your feelings, just listen to what the greatest player who’s ever played the game has to say.” This is what O’Neal said in response to his idol breaking his media hiatus to join NBC.

NBC is micro-dosing fans with MJ’s Insights to Excellence, and in the second week, Mike Tirico broached load management. Jordan was hesitant but blunt when he initially said, “It shouldn’t be needed.” He’s played with sprains, the flu, and played golf or poker till gametime. So he couldn’t be called out on it. For what it’s worth, O’Neal did want to play as much as possible for an offbeat reason.

In the past, Shaq has claimed, “I never came into camp in shape because, one, I gotta rest, and I gotta pay my family back… You beat me up so much during the year, I’m not doing s—t in the summer.” It infamously annoyed Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, even though O’Neal was comfortable relying on Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade. Shaq used to send teammates like John Salley to beg Jackson for rest.

However, Shaq has trauma from taking a break mid-season. He was so comfortable after beating the Jordan-led Bulls in the 1995 ECF, the Orlando Magic was partying instead of practicing. That led to them getting swept by the Houston Rockets in the finals. O’Neal has never wanted to take extended breaks in the middle of the season unless he was injured.

As he told Rich Eisen, he worked around his load management style. “But when I can get like two games rest and take my anti-inflammatories and then come back, like every time I came back off an injury, I was super fresh.”

Again, Shaq is inconsistent with this advice. His anti-inflammatories and painkillers during his career affected his liver. So, you can’t blame him for wanting to take those rest days.