“I never spoke about her (before) because Angel (Reese) is my girl but I can truthfully say—Caitlin Clark is for real.” Shaquille O’Neal spoke to Sports Illustrated after attending his first WNBA game since the draft this year. Uncle Shaq has been one of the pillars supporting the Sky rookie since her college days. So when Charles Barkley, a few months ago, went on a rant hyping only Clark for the success of the W, Reese took that issue up with the Lakers legend.

When asked about Chuk’s “petty” comments, Shaq disagreed with his best friend. “Loudmouths like Chuck are talking about hating — it’s not hating,” O’Neal spoke to USA Today. “It’s like, you’re good but let’s slow it down a notch.” He also clarified that it was just professional jealousy that athletes perform better than their opponents.

During the live Inside Show, Charles Barkley made his expletive comments. The 4x NBA champion spoke about the matter on his Big Podcast with Shaq, “She jumped on me, ‘Why don’t you say something to Charles [Barkley]? First of all, Charles took up the segment and I haven’t got the time to say anything but I talked to him afterwards.”

He also advised her not to read comments online and to focus on fine-tuning her hooping skills. He had given her similar advice earlier when she missed a few games during her LSU days. Shaq explained that the growth of the WNBA is phenomenal to watch, but it’s not only because of the Fever rookie.

Why Shaq and Charles Barkley have a different train of thoughts

During Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Chuck made it clear that other athletes in the league were hating on Clark. Although it wasn’t clear to whom Barkley was referring, he called them ungrateful. According to him, the league started the chartered plane service because of the Caitlin Clark effect.

While speaking to USA Today, Shaq made it clear that success is not dependent only on one player. He gave flowers to Diana Taurasi, the oldest player in the league and the most successful Olympic basketball athlete, male or female. This came after he mentioned the current odds-on favorite MVP contender, A’ja Wilson, who is averaging 27.3 points this season—significantly higher than the 22.8 points she averaged last year to win the MVP award.

Talking about awards, Caitlin Clark recently earned her 3rd consecutive Eastern Conference Player of the Week honor. For the third week, she scored 25.0 points, 10.0 assists, and 7.7 rebounds per game to help Indiana close the week with a 2-1 record. The different thought processes are very easy to explain. Barkley feels Clark is not getting enough flowers for her impact, while Shaq feels it will come in due course.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.