Adam Silver Doesn’t Appreciate Shaq’s Claim That NBA Has Gotten Too ‘Boring’

Adam Silver had the perfect clap back for Shaquille O’Neal after the Hall of Famer claimed the NBA has become too “boring.”

Viewership is down in the NBA, and on a recent episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, O’Neal gave his theory on why. He said teams have abandoned good basketball in favor of just throwing up 3s.

“It’s down because we’re looking at the same thing,” O’Neal said. “Everybody is running the same plays… Steph Curry and those guys messed it up. I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting 3s, but every team isn’t a 3-point shooter. So why everybody has the same strategy? I think it makes the game boring.”

During an appearance on Wednesday, the Commissioner was asked about Shaq’s claim, and Silver responded with a little zinger of his own: “There’s so much diversity in Shaq’s game, I can’t believe he said that.”

Silver was poking fun of the fact that, during his playing days, O’Neal wasn’t exactly known for his offensive range. The 7-foot-1 big man certainly wasn’t firing off threes, and he was less-than-reliable at the free throw line, too.

“I respect his opinion,” Silver said, according to Deadline. “I think that we pay a lot of attention to what we see in our game. Sometimes, there’s more appreciation for a 12-foot jump shot than a 30-foot jump shot. When Shaq played, it was the exact opposite, with critics complaining, ‘There’s not enough variation in your game — it’s all about dunking.’”

Adam Silver and Shaquille O’Neal have different definitions of “boring.”

(Getty Images)

According to the commish, it’s just the natural evolution of the game.

“Today, people say it’s all about these highly skilled shooters,” Silver said. “We’ve moved the 3-point line before back a little to make 3-point shooting more difficult. We could do that again. I’m not saying that’s on the table. This is a good opportunity this season, as we’re about to enter into three 11-year television deals, to step back and study the game a bit. Our game has never been more popular.”

This past July, the NBA officially finalized a new media deal — an 11-year, $76 billion agreement that keeps the NBA and Disney (which owns ESPN and ABC) in business, while also bringing NBC and Amazon into the fold.