It looks like the sports legends don’t want to be left out of the 2024 rap war because who would have thought we’d be getting a diss track aimed at Shannon Sharpe from Shaquille O’Neal? In the space of three short days, the two prominent figures in sports media have suddenly begun feuding. It all started when Shannon Sharpe criticized Shaq on his podcast, and O’Neal responded on Instagram. But is there really animosity between the two sportsmen? Or is it all just for show? Here’s how we got here.
The Fuel: Shaq Shares His Opinion On The MVP Title
On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, Shaq and his team announced on TNT's Inside The NBA that Nikola Jokic had won MVP for the third time in four years. After reviewing several of Jokic’s stats, host Ernie Johnson asked Shaq for his opinion. Shaq promptly expressed his dissatisfaction with the voting results. He also suggested that the Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander should have won instead.
“Congratulations to Joker, you are the best big man in the league, but ... I thought Shai Alexander deserved it,” he said. Moments later, Jokic joined the show, and Shaq spoke with the newly crowned MVP. While he praised Jokic, he reiterated his perspective on who he felt deserved the title. “Joker, as the president of the Big Man alliance, you are the vice president of the Big Man alliance, you know I love you,” Shaq said. “The best player in the league, I wanna congratulate you. But I want you to hear it from me first, I thought that SGA should’ve been the MVP. That’s no disrespect to you, but congratulations.” Jokic took Shaq’s opinion in stride, even cracking a joke amidst the conversation, and all was well and good until Shannon Sharpe joined the conversation.
The Lighter: Shannon Sharpe Accuses Shaq Of Jealousy
The following day, on the new episode of the Nightcap podcast, Shannon Sharpe was discussing the MVP results and called Shaq envious. He then suggested that Shaq had acted out of jealousy since, according to Sharpe, he isn’t among the NBA’s greatest. “I think a part of Shaq, he might not ever admit this, but Shaq sees these guys win these MVPs and is a little envious,” Sharpe said. “I understand that Shaq got four titles and he has three Finals MVPs, but Shaq knows deep down. We should be having the discussion — for G.O.A.T., Shaq’s name is never brought up in the discussion.”
As if that weren’t enough, Shannon Sharpe went on to say that Shaq robbed himself of such titles because he “didn’t take it seriously enough.” He continued, “Shaq should have five MVPs. Shaq should have seven titles. And he sees a guy like Nikola Jokic that’s not as dominant as him and he gets three in four years, and people are talking about him.”
Shaq didn’t take the comments lightly. He took to Instagram later on Thursday night and shared an extensive response to Shannon Sharpe. “You took me sticking up for @shai as jealousy?? shows how smart you are and how you say anything to get clicks. So, here’s some clickbait for you. If you ain’t ranked in the top ten in your profession, then you can’t speak on me… I have it, you don’t, not in my profession. And your goat debate never wanted to be the goat. I wanted to be who you should greet me as THE MOST DOMINANT EVER," he wrote.
Last Man Standing
Soon after, Shannon Sharpe made a response to Shaq’s Instagram rant on Friday’s episode of Nightcap. While he clarified that he never said he was as great as Shaq, Sharpe insisted he got where he is through his hard work and consistency. “I’ve never professed that I was as great as Shaq,” he said. “But what I will say, I got what I got because I worked my ass off. Now Shaq has been the one to say it, that he didn’t work as hard, that he didn’t train as hard, he didn’t eat as well as he should have… Yeah, you’re more famous than me. Yeah, you’re more well-known. You’re gonna have way more money than I ever had. But nobody will ever say that I was lazy or I cheated myself. That’s all I got for you, big boy. I ain’t got nothing else for you. I ain’t here to argue with you, I’m not here to debate with you.”
O’Neal released a portion of his diss track aimed at Sharpe later that day on Instagram. The 1-minute 30-second track begins with a collection of soundbites. Shannon Sharpe can be heard discussing how much it bothers Shaq to have only one MVP award. He then comes for Sharpe with rap lines like, “Shannon Sharpe, man, you’re way beneath me / Your whole demeanor is faker than new rapper beefy / You’re soft, before you get fly, you rather tweet me.”
The End
Shaq subsequently expressed that he was done with the beef. “Love y'all, now I’m done with this. I’ll be at the Bahamas crib if anyone needs me," he wrote. Shannon Sharpe further clarified by posting on X (formerly Twitter) that there is no animosity between him and Shaq. And just like that, it seems the feud between the two legends is dead.