Photo of Caitlin Clark smiling and photo of Shaquille O'Neal speaking

Caitlin Clark and Shaquille O’Neal (Photos via Getty Images & Unapologetically Angel/X)

Former NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal recently owned up to being a Caitlin Clark hater.

The four-time champion joined Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese on her ‘Unapologetically Angel’ podcast this week, where he admitted that he rooted for Clark to fail because of his affinity with Reese.

Shaq would start by asking Reese, “Why you think people love Caitlin Clark? Besides her skills?”

“She can shoot threes from logo,” she replied.

“We never seen that before. That’s my point,” The Diesel continued. “…She’s doing stuff we’ve never seen before. [I’ve] never seen nobody [shoot logo threes] on a consistent basis. There’s a lot of girls in the WNBA that have done it in spurts, but that game I’m watching y’all in the Final Four, I’m like ‘Damn.’

“And I was a hater, cause you know I’m down with you, like, ‘She’s not gonna hit that shot.’ And then, bam, she hits the shot,” Shaq continued of Clark. “Like if i say 10 times you not gonna hit the shot and you hit the shot that means you the truth.”

“Shaq is a hater of everyone are we surprised 😭,” someone pointed out.

“Old head hating just to hate. Shaq whole personality is hating now,” another claimed.

“Angel hates that she had to eat that lol,” said a third.

“Wonder what Angel said in response👍,” another wrote.

Shaquille O’Neal Has A “Hater” Reputation Now

As you can see from the reactions above, fans were not surprised by this admission.

Shaq does have a tendency to criticize the current generation of players, with Dwight Howard, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and Kyrie Irving among the many players he’s lashed out at over the years.

JaVale McGee was also one of his favorite players to pick on. However, they have since reconciled, with Shaq giving McGee his flowers following his championship runs with the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers.