Shaq’s history with the Jazz may explain his beef with Rudy Gobert

NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal keeps going right at former Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert. In an interview with Complex, he proclaimed Gobert the “Worst Player of All Time,” citing that Gobert makes so much money, yet his teams can’t depend on him in the fourth quarter.

This is not a new development. O’Neal’s contempt for Gobert has been a thing for years, dating back to when he was with the Jazz, but is this really all because of Gobert’s limitations, or could there be something else at play here?

Maybe Shaq’s disdain for Gobert is simply that he doesn’t like him, or maybe there’s something else at play here. O’Neal does not have the fondest memories of Utah from his playing days. That may not factor into his issues with Gobert, but it is a fact nonetheless.

It was 1996. Bill Clinton had been re-elected president of the United States, OJ Simpson was being sued for the wrongful death of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, and Shaq had shifted the entire NBA landscape when he left Orlando for Hollywood.

By joining the Lakers, Shaq gave them relevance for the first time since Magic Johnson’s retirement. Adding in some unknown rookie named Kobe Bryant, and the Lakers had title odds again. The one problem is that the Utah Jazz stood in their way.

The Jazz and Lakers faced off in the 1997 Western Conference Semifinals, where Shaq had a pretty embarrassing performance for someone like him. Averaging 22 points and 11.6 rebounds, O’Neal did not do much to help the Lakers avoid losing in a gentleman’s sweep.

This was highlighted in their elimination game, where O’Neal put up 23 points but was among the victims of Greg Ostertag’s nine blocks.

Note that O’Neal had a bad history with Ostertag during this time.

This series is also known for an infamously bad performance from another particular all-time player, but it doesn’t change how badly the Lakers flopped.

The following year, O’Neal was much better, plus the Lakers took another step further, going to the Western Conference Finals. However, despite O’Neal’s 31.8 points and 9.3 rebounds a game, it wasn’t enough to avoid getting swept by, you guessed it, the Utah Jazz.

It’s fair to say it wasn’t entirely his fault, but it didn’t matter. Despite Shaq’s unreal talent, it still wasn’t enough to overcome the Jazz. O’Neal went on to have an impressive resume, but the Jazz played a part in pushing him into becoming the player he became.

Players remember the teams that beat them the most. By extension, they also remember the teams they never beat. Among all of O’Neal’s accolades, one of the few things he never achieved was beating the Jazz in the postseason.

Even when O’Neal and the Lakers finally got over the hump, they never got past the Jazz to do just that. By the time they did, Karl Malone and John Stockton were yesterday’s news. It would not surprise anyone if the notion that he never beat the team that kept beating him still bugs him to the point where he’ll find any reason to criticize current or former Jazz players.

Could his failure to beat those Jazz teams back in the 90s play a part in why O’Neal doesn’t like Gobert? Who’s to say? Besides, Gobert’s not the only current player who Shaq has criticized at length.

But it does seem odd that Shaq is among the biggest voices on the Rudy Gobert hate train. This is especially true given that Gobert’s calling card is his rim-protecting abilities and that one of the primary reasons Shaq and the Lakers never beat the Jazz was Ostertag’s rim protection.