Kevin Durant Bites Back At Shaq’s Criticism About Not Being In The Championship ‘Club’: There’s More To Life Than Rings

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Shaquille O’Neal caused a little trouble — as he and his TNT cohorts are known to do — making some harsh criticisms about Kevin Durant and his lack of a championship ring or G-14 classification, as Shaq put it. It’s all in response to Shaq’s spat with JaVale McGee that has escalated thanks to Durant coming to his teammate’s defense. It isn’t a new criticism from those who have found championship gold and rings throughout their career. You hear that type of talk in all sports, especially around hall of fame time, but it has its drawbacks. But by saying someone who hasn’t won a championship isn’t worth the conversation, you’re placing a guy like Scot Pollard above guys like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and Karl Malone just because he has a ring and they don’t. It’s silly talk.

That’s why it’s nice to hear Durant hit back at Shaq’s comments while on The Bill Simmons Podcast, shutting down all that championship talk and explaining what’s truly important to him in life according to Sports Illustrated:

“He said I can’t talk to him because I haven’t won a championship,” Durant told Simmons. “I can see right through that. Shaq feels validated in life, not just basketball, because he’s won a championship. … To say I can’t say anything to him about my teammate who you tried to bully for no reason? I can’t come to his defense because I haven’t won championships? [That] shows me your whole life is centered around [the fact that] you feel like you’re someone in this world because you won a championship. For me, it ain’t even about that.

“If I have something to say, I’m going to say it. I feel like if you’re going to come at my teammate, I’m going to protect him. that’s what leaders are supposed to do. … Man, you’ve got flaws, too, and you’re just trying to pick on JaVale. Obviously, JaVale would never be Shaq. He’s trying out here like everybody else. I just try to have his back.”

As SI points out, Shaq and his fellow broadcast partner Charles Barkley have had a few public feuds with current NBA players this year. Barkley got into it with LeBron James at one point, with the superstar calling Barkley a “hater.” Durant took time to address this and their ongoing criticism of today’s NBA, taking the high road in the process:

“It’s a new day,” he told Simmons. “Get over that s—. We shoot threes now. The game is good. We can play with y’all. It’s faster now. Shaq, you did your thing. You don’t hear nobody coming out saying, ‘Back then, the way they played, they couldn’t play with us [now].’ No players come out and say that because we respect the generation before us. We can easily defend our generation but we don’t do that. Obviously, we’re not going to do everything the way y’all did it.”

This will surely spark some sort of reaction from Shaq and maybe even Barkley and Kenny Smith while we’re at it. All the while, Ernie Johnson will just be shaking his head. Listen to the full podcast appearance below:

(Via Sports Illustrated)

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