Shaquille O’Neal, a gold medalist with the 1996 Olympic squad dubbed ‘Dream Team III’, took a subtle shot at the USA men’s squad after their performance in Paris.
The premise behind Shaq’s comments is the contention that there were some close games in America’s quest for gold in 2024 that signal the world is “catching up” in regards to talent.
O’Neal made the comments during an appearance on the “Big Podcast” suggesting if Team USA lived up to their potential, these other countries still wouldn’t be able to touch them.
“I have a dominant personality,” he said. “I don’t care who you are. My cousin Kenny just had this argument upstairs. He said, ‘The world is getting close’ but I don’t think it is.”
“The fact that they [Team USA] went 97-95 [in the semifinal], you only beat South Sudan by one,” he continued. “Come on, bro. That’s never supposed to happen.”
RELATED: Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards Says Players From Dream Team Era Didn’t Have Skill
Shaq Throwing Shade At Team USA
If you’re confused, Shaq is referring to an exhibition game leading up to the Olympics where Team USA beat South Sudan, 101-100 after trailing by 14 points at the half.
They then struggled to take down Germany in the exhibition round by outscoring them by seven points in the 4th quarter.
In actual Olympic play, Team USA beat South Sudan by 17 points. But then, as Shaq states, barely squeaked by Serbia by four points (95-91), needing to rally from a 17-point deficit.
They then struggled to put France away in the gold medal game until Steph Curry stepped up his game.
Shaq’s 1996 Olympic team’s closest game was a 22-point victory over Lithuania.
Shaq says he wasn’t paying attention to the Olympics.
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) August 20, 2024
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At Least One Current Player Thinks This Year’s Team Was Better Than The Dream Team
Shaq’s jab at Team USA for struggling to beat teams like Serbia (they have four NBA players on their squad) and South Sudan (they have two with some experience) comes as one member of Team USA boldly stated today’s players are better than the older generation.
Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards said he believes players from the Dream Team era had no skill, with the exception of Michael Jordan.
“How do you think your generation of basketball is different from older generations?” he was asked.
“I didn’t watch it back in the day so I can’t speak on it. They say it was tougher back then than it is now, but I don’t think anybody had skill back then,” he responded.
“[Jordan] was the only one that really had skill, you know what I mean? So that’s why when they saw Kobe, they were like, ‘Oh, my God.’ But now everybody has skill.”
You could have taken Michael Jordan off that team in 1992 and they still would have beaten today’s South Sudan team by roughly 117 points.
Give or take.
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