After wearing his colours on several occasions, Shaquille O’Neal logically did not escape Team USA’s coronation at the Paris Olympic Games this summer.

However, he went against the grain of many observers following this hard-won success.

World champion in 1994, he also won gold two years later at the Atlanta Olympic Games. Shaquille O’Neal therefore knows the special flavour of an international title, which Team USA tasted again this summer following the disappointment of the last World Cup.

Made up of the biggest American stars in the NBA, it was thus able to retain its Olympic title in Paris, not without difficulty.

Indeed, despite a record without the slightest defeat, LeBron James and his gang had to work hard on several occasions to avoid suffering a new affront on the FIBA ​​stage.

This was notably the case against Serbia, then against France in the tournament final. Enough to provoke a big reaction across the Atlantic, where fans and observers have yet to get used to this resistance from the rest of the world.

Shaquille O’Neal’s puzzling opinion on world basketball
In his Big Podcast, O’Neal was recently invited to look back on the Olympics won by his compatriots and their struggles to get there. His speech was then intended to be… surprising:

Shaquille O’Neal: I don’t even pay attention to what’s happening at the Olympics. (…) My cousin and I just talked about it.

He told me, “The rest of the world is getting closer (to Team USA’s level)”, but I don’t think that’s the case personally.

Read also
10 days later, Steve Kerr adds another layer on the victory against the Blues: “When we won…

First of all, it’s hard to believe the first sentence delivered by Diesel. Indeed, the latter has regularly commented on the American selection’s progress and even allowed himself to mock Rudy Gobert after the final against the French team.

For the rest, his opinion on the overall level of international basketball and on the competition that Team USA now faces can also be questioned.

After all, right from their preparation, Steve Kerr’s men were pushed to their limits by narrowly beating South Sudan (101-100).

A result that, failing to push him to draw conclusions on the globalization of basketball, was described as unacceptable by Shaq:

Shaquille O’Neal: The fact that they only won by a small point against South Sudan… Seriously, man. That should never happen.

It remains to be seen whether the physiognomy of the semi-finals and final of the Olympic Games led the Big Cactus to review his judgment in this regard.

For Shaquille O’Neal, the recent adversity encountered by Team USA on the FIBA ​​stage would certainly be inconceivable, but would not reflect an overall strengthening of other nations.

The recent trend nevertheless leads one to believe the opposite.