In 2015, Shaquille O’Neal stirred the pot when he claimed that the Los Angeles Lakers would beat the Chicago Bulls in a game between the two franchises’ all-time best teams. Not only did Big Diesel say that, but he also declared that it would be a mismatch, with the Lakers winning the game by 50 points.
Of course, O’Neal was exaggerating the winning margin, but without a doubt, he meant it when he said that the Lakers would win. Scottie Pippen disagreed and ended up engaging Shaq in an Instagram war of words .
ESPN brought up the topic to Michael Jordan , and expectedly, he sided with Pippen. However, he felt like Shaq was merely starting a mythical debate.
“I just felt like he was just talking,” said Jordan. “It’s a debate. The thing is that we would never know…I think we would have killed them. He thinks they would have killed us. You guys decide. It’s just a debate.”
A mythical debate
These debates are common in the NBA. There are the individual ones, like the GOAT debate. Then, others compare championship teams from different eras. This one was different because it was about the best five in the franchise history.