Shaquille O'Neal has made plenty of controversial all-time lists over the years, and his latest one has a surprising omission: Michael Jordan from his Mount Rushmore of the NBA's greatest flair dunkers.
During an appearance with Reggie Miller on the Rushmore podcast , the two Hall of Famers were asked to identify basketball's greatest dunkers.
Miller immediately responded with a classic all-time list.
"I think the best dunker this game has ever seen is Vince. Vince Carter . Now, my criteria for dunkers will be, number one, they had to play in the league, of course, and this had to have been done in games, not slam dunk competitions. "So, of course, you're going to put Air Jordan because of flair of dunkers.
"I'm going to put Dominique Wilkins in there. In terms of game dunks and putting people in the seats, I'm coming to an Atlanta Hawks game because you never know what Dominique, Air Jordan, Vince Carter are going to do."
"The fourth now gets tricky. The fourth always gets tricky because I can easily make a case for Zach LaVine . I can make a case for Jason Richardson. I can make a case for Larry Nance. I can make a case for Darryl Dawkins, Chocolate Thunder, power dunker. I said the fourth is very difficult. It's very, very difficult. I do like my Zach LaVine."
His first selection was obviously Vince Carter , considered the greatest dunker of all time. His criteria also focused exclusively on dunks during NBA games rather than just dunk contests. And from there, he selected Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins before struggling with his fourth choice, as he ended up taking Zach LaVine in the end.
But seeing Reggie Miller 's list, Shaq clearly wasn't impressed.
"That's the worst list I've ever seen in my life."
Shaq then explained that he separated his dunkers into two categories: flair and power. While he agreed with Miller that Carter belongs at the top, his flair list took a slightly different direction.
"So there's two types of dunkers. There's the flair dunkers and the power dunkers. I have four for both. Vince is the greatest dunker of all time."
Miller then asked why he included Carter in the flair list, and Shaq responded.
"Because if you have a Rolls-Royce and you put a Cheech and Chong steering wheel, you fuck up the value of the Rolls-Royce. You can't put no metal Cheech and Chong steering wheel. Shawn Kemp. Dominique, like you said. You talk about flair. I'm going to have to exclude Michael Jordan because Dr. J was the first to do that. So I'm gonna go with Dr. J."
Miller immediately challenged Shaq's decision to leave Michael Jordan out.
"I love Dr. J. That's great, but to exclude Michael Jordan off your list, as many times as you saw that tongue coming at you."
But for Shaq, however, Jordan's spectacular finishes weren't as comparable to some of the other outrageous dunks produced by Carter.
"But this and this is two different types of dunks. Like, for example, Jordan baseline versus the Knicks, like, it's a nice move and nice dunk, but Vince jumping over the guy at the Olympics."
Shaq then went to an entirely separate Mount Rushmore for power dunkers.
"Power dunkers: me, Shawn Kemp, Darryl Dawkins, and Dwight Howard."
Interestingly, Shawn Kemp appears on both sides of Shaq's discussion, just showing why the former Seattle SuperSonics star was such a unique finisher. Carter, meanwhile, was the one selection on which Shaq and Miller virtually did not disagree.
Shaq has also produced other versions of his greatest dunkers list, but separating power from flair changes the conversation big time.
Jordan's omission will obviously draw attention, considering how much aerial ability was a part of his identity. His free-throw-line dunks, baseline attacks, and iconic silhouette helped redefine basketball's culture.
But Shaq's argument wasn't that Jordan couldn't dunk. He simply believes Irving deserves the flair spot because he came first, while Carter ultimately took spectacular in-game dunking to just another planet entirely.
