Forget the debate about LeBron vs. Michael. A certain player that used to go by "The Big Aristotle" said he would take the Black Mamba over King James.
Shaquille O'Neal appeared on the Dan Patrick Show, and the host asked the four-time NBA champion to choose between Michael Jordan and LeBron James in their primes. The subject came up as the result of current New York Liberty women's basketball coach Bill Laimbeer also participating on the Dan Patrick Show and proclaiming that he would rather have LeBron than Michael.
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Not only did O'Neal contradict Laimbeer - a former Detroit Piston who saw Jordan and the Bulls end the Pistons dynasty that lasted from 1989-90 - but he took it a step further.
Patrick asked O'Neal to choose between James, a four-time NBA MVP who is making his fifth consecutive NBA Finals appearance, and his former Lakers teammate, Kobe Bryant. O'Neal played with both, although he played with - and antagonized - Bryant a lot longer.
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"You know, Kobe has that killer instinct, and I'd probably have to go with Kobe" O'Neal told Patrick. "That's not a knock against LeBron, I just know Kobe and played with him a lot longer and have seen what he can do.
When asked whether he thought LeBron had a killer instinct, O'Neal said yes, making the comparison to another Lakers NBA Hall of Famer.
"A lot of people try to compare him to Mike when he's more like Magic (Johnson)," O'Neal said. "When he needs to take over a game, he will. He's really really smart. He's very intelligent and lets the game to come him and he relies on others."
Kobe and Shaq won three titles together with the Lakers from 2000-02 and made another finals appearance together in 2004, but their relationship eventually became too contentious for the Lakers to keep both, so they chose to keep Bryant, who went on to win two more titles and play in another finals for L.A.
O'Neal won one more ring with the Miami Heat and Dwyane Wade in 2006. He played with James during James' last season in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009-10.
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