Shaquille O’Neal excludes LeBron from his NBA all-time quintet but includes Jordan and Kobe

Shaquille O’Neal, winner of a ‘three-peat’ with the Los Angeles Lakers and a further NBA championship with the Miami Heat, is one of the all-time greats in NBA basketball history and currently heavily involved in sports commentary. The 52-year-old has also built up a reputation for his controversial statements and the New Jersey native is never shy to offer his forthright opinion matters regarding the sport.

The eternal debate about who is the best player of all time has been reignited after O’Neal offered his ‘best five of all-time’, in which he included Kobe Bryant, his teammate from his time with the California franchise. The polemic centred on Shaq omitting LeBron James, with both players playing side by side with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2009-10 season. Michael Jordan, who for many is the undisputed greatest of all-time is included in the quintet with O’Neal eliminating the Bulls when with the Orlando Magic in the 2005 season playoffs.

Julius Erving and Karl Malone, along with O’Neal himself complete the line-up.

“I’m proud to be the last player to beat Michael Jordan in a playoff situation. Everybody’s going to say he came back from baseball, but I think if you step back on the court and know he had the same mindset, it means he was ready to play. The next year, they came back, they demolished us and made sure we didn’t win a game. I’m sure he was rusty when he came back, but that win in Orlando wasn’t bad,” O’Neal said.

Shaq O’Neal’s all-time NBA ideal quintet: