Kevin Durant is not taking Shaquille O’Neal’s criticism of NBA players making too much money all that seriously.
The Brooklyn Nets star called out the Hall of Famer on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon after quote tweeting a graphic showing Shaq expressing displeasure, specifically with Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, for how much money he makes .
“You think I’m happy Rudy Gobert’s making $250 [million]?” Shaq apparently said on his The Big Podcast. “G-d damn right we get mad, we get petty. … I think it’s a little bit of truth in our criticism.”
Durant wrote: “Shaquille is hilarious. You’re a billionaire bro.”
Shaq is not quite a billionaire. His net worth is estimated at $400 million, per celebritynetworth.com. But the point remains — Shaq has done and continues to do quite well for himself.
Gobert, for the record, signed a $205 million contract last summer, so everyone seems to be exaggerating a bit.
Nonetheless, basketball contracts have inflated since Shaq’s days but that’s kind of the nature of the beast. The league is generating more money than it ever has so, naturally, the players of this generation will make more than the previous and the same goes for the next generation as well.
Shaq can be petty about it, but he earned $292 million during his career and that does not even count his endorsement deals, which he is still doing today in addition to his media work.
So, Durant probably gets the W here.
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