Violent comments reek of insecurity as Shaq takes shots at Holmgren & Wembanyama

I don't know what's been in the air lately, but the Spurs keep ending up on the wrong side of someone's flagrant disrespect. Shaquille O'Neal is a habitual line-stepper when it comes to San Antonio and while it's somewhat understandable due to the Lakers rivalry, it's tired at this point.

Shaq is a larger-than-life figure in American culture. Everybody knows him—sort of like Snoop Dogg. That means he's everywhere, and people are always putting a microphone in his face. Unfortunately, he also puts a microphone in his face because, like almost every other athlete in the country, he has a podcast.

In one of the latest clips posted to their X (formerly Twitter) account, Shaq unnecessarily takes aim at Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama.

Shaq's bully routine is old and tired

This is one of the greatest centers to ever play the game. Instead of leaving that legacy to speak for itself, he's turned himself into a bully that some people will have a hard time respecting. He recently took shots at San Antonio's 1999 championship in an effort to legitimize the Los Angeles Lakers' 2020 title run in the bubble. That, while obviously inaccurate, was just unreasonable. This is out of line.

Roy Wood Jr. didn't ask Shaq what his strategy would be against Chet and Wembanyama if he were playing against them today. He was asked if he believed these young and uniquely talented bigs would change the DNA of the league. O'Neal's initial answer to that question was "no," but then instead of explaining his answer, he pivoted to an aggressive rant about what he'd do to them.

His comment about attempting to knock their teeth out of their mouths is the most eye-roll-inducing thing an old player can say about the younger generation. It's always about how soft the players are and how physical they would be with them.

Shaq, in particular, seems threatened whenever the next great big man comes around. Pair that with his obvious dislike for the Spurs and you get this rinse-and-repeat-esque bullying from him, constantly trying to denigrate the franchise and the players.

If wanted to have an honest thought experiment on how a matchup between Shaq and Wembanyama would go, we could do that without all the aggressive under and overtones he used. O'Neal is a physical force, unlike anything this league has seen to this day.

Wemby is too thin to match up one-on-one in the post with him and so he wouldn't. The coaches aren't idiots, and they aren't going to just let the most dominant big man of all time abuse Victor down low and get him into foul trouble. Someone else would get that honor and Wembanyama would likely serve as the helpside defender. OKC would likely do something similar.

It's a pointless exercise, but it could be a fun one if done honestly and respectfully. I'm not sure why Shaq always feels the need to tear down the current bigs to prop himself up, but it's what insecure people do. He should talk to someone about that. Preferably, not us.