Shaq gives incredible, controversial, & shocking praise to Nikola Jokic

A lot happened on Saturday during the incredible Game 4 of the Clippers and Nuggets series, but Aaron Gordon’s heroics at the final buzzer stole the show. After the game, that’s all anyone was talking about, and rightfully so, as it was one of the greatest endings to a game in NBA playoff history.

But there were a lot more takeaways from this one, and a lot of things happened on and off the court that got swept under the rug thanks to the wild ending. A lot of those things had to do with the massive comeback by the Clippers, corresponding with an all-time collapse by the Nuggets.

Another underlying storyline hovering over all the action was the brilliance of Nikola Jokic. The Joker had his best game of the playoffs and completely carried Denver, putting up an absurd 36 points, 21 rebounds, and 8 assists on 14/25 shooting.

And yet, that Jokic masterclass flew largely under the radar after the heroic and historic final play by Gordon. But one, very notable NBA media personality, and constant, longtime Jokic detractor, noticed his play, and then some.

Shaq declares Jokic top 5 all-time center

During halftime of the game, the Inside the NBA crew on TNT was talking about the game and about Jokic’s greatness, when Shaquille O’Neal, of all people, casually referred to Jokic as a top 5 center of all-time.

Shaq has long been hesitant to praise Jokic, or any modern center, at times bordering on petty and insecure about his own place in history. But he seems to have finally come around on Jokic, presenting with a championship belt for big men earlier in the year, and now this.

Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith immediately started pushing back before Shaq had even finished his sentence. They challenged him with an actual list; naming Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Shaq, himself, and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Shaq didn’t exactly have an answer as to which of those five he would remove, and even stated that he’s not removing anyone. But he also didn’t retract his statement about Jokic, just amending to say they could all agree he’s at least top 10, which the whole crew agreed was easily the case already.

This isn’t a newsflash to Nuggets fans, certainly, but it’s still nice to see him receiving this type of praise on a national platform made up of former players who have constantly shown an inability to properly value players from the present era.