Shaquille O'neal gives Huge Praise to NBA Rookie

Since retiring from playing in the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal has been a pundit for TNT's "Inside the NBA" and has made a great number of comments, both good and bad, on current NBA stars. He has been known to be very critical, especially of centers, with stars such as JaVale McGee and Rudy Gobert facing a lot of backlash from the Hall of Famer. One rookie center seems to have impressed Shaq and has received a lot of praise from the former MVP ahead of their debut tonight.

Shaq on Victor Wembanyama:

«I'm not gonna put a lot of pressure on him. He's 19, a rookie. But from the highlights I've seen, he's definitely in the 'big man alliance' already. And I never give it up that early.»

(via @NBAonTNT, h/t @Josh810) pic.twitter.com/cjooOvAHav— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 25, 2023

Big Man Alliance

The Big Man Alliance is a list formed by Shaquille O'Neal regarding the greatest centers to have ever played in the NBA. The list is very exclusive and honors all-time greats, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain, to the reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, who Shaq inducted last season.

.@SHAQ inducts The Joker into The Big Man Alliance 🤣🏅 pic.twitter.com/NqgAB3jjxf— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 2, 2023

In fact, the list is so exclusive that all members have been named to All-NBA first teams and have also reached the NBA Finals at least once. This is why it is so unusual that he has placed a rookie on this list before they have even played in an official NBA game.

Shaq officially welcomes Nikola Jokic to the 'Big Man Alliance.' 👀

(📸: @SHAQ) pic.twitter.com/0Lv4zQD85S— theScore (@theScore) June 19, 2023

Victor Wembanyama

Wembanyama is the latest international superstar to join the NBA from overseas, following players such as Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokic. He is uniquely sized at 7'4 as a 19-year-old and, despite his size, shows a very technical skillset similar to a guard with his shooting ability and ball-handling skills.

Drafted by the Spurs with the first overall pick, Victor has been hailed as a generational talent by almost everybody and is widely considered the greatest draft prospect since LeBron James. Last season, he played in the LNB Pro A professional league in France and led his team to the Finals while averaging 21.8 points and 10.3 rebounds.


NBA Debut

Tonight will be the debut for Wembanyama as the Spurs take on the Mavericks in their season opener. It will be the first chance to see how this young Spurs team will perform with Wemby while also getting a fresh look at the backcourt pairing of Doncic and Irving for Dallas.

While it is only the first of an 82-game regular season, and the stakes aren't massively high, there are many eyes on the Spurs' rookie to see how he will perform at the NBA level. Shaq certainly seems impressed enough by his insane preseason highlights to add him to the Big Man Alliance, and the world will be watching to see if he can live up to the expectations.