Shaquille O’Neal has never been afraid to crown greatness — and this time, his pick raised eyebrows.
During a lighthearted segment with Overtime, the Hall of Fame center was challenged to name a player better than Stephen Curry in his prime. If he could, he’d avoid eating the infamous Shaq-A-Licious Slam candy.
The candy never left the table.
Names like Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Magic Johnson, LeBron James — and even Shaq himself — were thrown into the conversation. But O’Neal didn’t flinch.
“Steph is the GOAT,” he said.
High praise from one of the most dominant forces the NBA has ever seen.
To understand the weight of that statement, you have to consider who it’s coming from. Shaquille O’Neal finished his career with four championships, three Finals MVPs, one regular-season MVP, 15 All-Star selections, and more than 28,000 career points. At his peak, he was physically unstoppable — a 7-foot-1, 325-pound wrecking ball who controlled the paint for over a decade.
Yet even Shaq sees something in Stephen Curry that transcends eras.
Curry’s résumé is historic in its own way: four NBA titles, two regular-season MVPs (including the league’s only unanimous MVP season), one Finals MVP, two scoring titles, and the distinction of being the greatest shooter the game has ever seen. But for Shaq, it’s not just about numbers.
“You know why I love Steph Curry? Because I’ve never seen that before,” O’Neal previously said. “If you saw Steph on the street, he ain’t got the LeBron muscles, he’s not 6’9”, 6’10”. He looks like a perfectly normal office guy. He’s doing stuff people never seen before.”
That uniqueness is key. Shaq dominated with overwhelming power. Curry dominates with gravity — stretching defenses 30 feet from the rim and warping the geometry of the court. One lived in the paint. The other turned the three-point line into a launching pad.
Statistically, their primes highlight the contrast. Shaq averaged 23.7 points and 10.9 rebounds for his career, routinely shooting over 58% from the field and punishing teams inside. Curry, meanwhile, has built a career on efficiency and range, regularly hovering near 40% from three while averaging over 24 points per game across his career.
This season, through 39 games, Curry is averaging 27.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists while shooting 46.8% from the field and 39.1% from deep. His scoring punch remains elite.
Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors sit eighth in the Western Conference at 29–26, fighting to secure playoff positioning as the postseason approaches. Even at this stage of his career, Curry remains the engine that keeps Golden State competitive.
Is Curry truly the GOAT? That debate will always be layered and subjective. Legends like Michael Jordan and LeBron James still dominate those conversations.
But when a titan like Shaq — a man who redefined physical dominance — says Curry stands alone, it carries weight.
From brute force to limitless range, greatness evolves.
And in Shaq’s eyes, Steph Curry represents the pinnacle of that evolution.