{"id":646975,"date":"2026-05-04T10:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/646975\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T10:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:30:08","slug":"shaq-says-wemby-is-the-perfect-big-do-you-agree-fiba-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/646975\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaq says Wemby is the perfect big: Do you agree?\u00a0|\u00a0FIBA Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA (USA) – Shaquille O’Neal<\/a> is well placed to be the judge of talent, a four-time NBA champion and former league MVP.<\/p>\n

So when USA’s 1994 World Cup winner and 1996 Olympic gold medalist calls Victor Wembanyama “the perfect big man” as he did on Inside The NBA after the Frenchman led San Antonio to a 4-1 series victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, it’s a loud statement about the French player that every team would love to have.<\/p>\n

“I think Wemby is the first perfect big man that’s ever been created,” O’Neal said. “He can shoot, free throws, play defense, play offense, and he’s a great team player.<\/p>\n

“I’m happy for Wemby. For me, in a long time, he’s a joy to watch.”<\/p>\n

Wembanyama made the All-Star Five after leading the French to the silver medal at the 2024 Olympics.<\/p>\n

He was the NBA’s Rookie of the Year and in the 2025-26 campaign has already scooped the honor as the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

He’s also in the running for league MVP.<\/p>\n

He averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a 3.1 blocks this season. The Spurs have a great team but make no mistake, it’s Wembanyama who makes them title contenders.<\/p>\n

“I’m seeing toughness, I’m seeing adjustments,” O’Neal said. “He’ll shoot the 3, he’s a great shooter.<\/p>\n

“They (Portland) tried to touch him up a few times and there was no complaints. He just went to the free-throw line like a man.”<\/p>\n

As dominating as he has been this season, the “perfect big man” is just 22.<\/p>\n

He can get better and will get better, according to O’Neal.<\/p>\n

“In two years, he will be right next to (Serbian Nikola) Jokic as the best big in the league,” O’Neal said. “Right now he’s number 2 but not far behind. He’s playing excellent basketball and I’m happy for the young fella.” Center Jokic, who has won NBA title with the Denver Nuggets, is a three-time league MVP.<\/p>\n

Wemby could also be the main reason why Shaq gave another hot take, saying he thinks USA Basketball will not win the gold medal in LA 2028. <\/p>\n

Let us know what you think and vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"No Gold for USA in 2028 says Shaq – Do you agree?<\/p>\n

FIBA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA (USA) – Shaquille O’Neal is well placed to be the judge of talent, a four-time NBA champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-646975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}