NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal never shies away from the opportunity to grill Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert.

The 2024 Paris Olympics are no exception, as O’Neal called out Gobert’s lack of impact in France’s win over Brazil. He posted to his Instagram story a picture of Gobert’s face photoshopped onto a Walmart employee. The fake image was captioned “Rudy Gobert if he wasn’t 7’1.”

Gobert concluded Saturday’s 12-point victory with seven points and three rebounds on 3 of 3 shooting. He was outshined by San Antonio Spurs’ No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, who finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, and four steals on 53.8 percent shooting. This wasn’t the worst part of his outing, as he was put on a posterizing dunk by Brazil’s Maozinha Pereira.

This is not the first time O’Neal criticized Gobert, as he first voiced his opinion on his contract. “Overpay” was the Hall of Famer’s description for the five-year, $205 million deal. He followed up this widely-regarded take with a harsher claim on ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq’.

“I never thought he was a great defensive player, either,” O’Neal said. “See, what it is, is there’s not a lot of centers that are making him play defense. Like, he’s not doing that s— against [Nikola Jokić], because he has to be engaged. But when he’s going against another guy, he’s 7′ 6″, of course if you lay it up he’s going to block it.”

Whether or not the public enjoys Gobert’s playstyle, there’s no denying his impact on the Wolves’ success.

Anthony Pasciolla is a contributing writer for Back In The Day Hoops. He can be reached at ampasciolla@gmail.com or followed on X @AnthonyPasci. 

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