Shaquille O'Neal, one of the harshest critics of NBA players today, has once again lashed out at them. In a recent interview with USA, O'Neill claimed that the players lacked a love for the game and were just interested in making more money.

“我熱愛比賽，但我不認為現在的球員熱愛比賽”奧尼爾說。“他們熱愛他們從比賽中得到的東西。你看我打球不是為了錢。我打球是為了讓我的名字與神齊名。你給我4萬美元打10年，我仍然會打。”

“很多傢伙想賺2億、3億美元，但他們沒有給球迷應得的東西”奧尼爾補充道。“投100個三分球，不是衝到籃下，把籃筐扣下來。我不認為他們熱愛比賽。他們熱愛他們能從比賽中得到的東西。”

奧尼爾遠非唯一一個有這種想法的前球員。球員們想盡可能多地賺錢不是最近才出現的現象。即使是之前的球員也有這種心態，奧尼爾本人也屬於這一類。他用他的表現給了球迷應得的東西，但他肯定不會對一份為期10年、價值4萬美元的合同感到滿意。

O'Neal has claimed that he left the Los Angeles Lakers because the team asked him to take less money. He now regrets it but wants to make as much money as possible in his career.

Money also played a role in O'Neal's departure from the Orlando Magic in '1996. He admitted he was jealous that Penny Hardaway got the contract he wanted, but he didn't, and decided to test the free agent market. Let's not distort the facts here, as if money was irrelevant to the early players.

It's arguable whether today's players don't have the kind of love for the game that O'Neill has. A lot of them don't mind missing games, and some start to relax after getting a big contract.

O'Neal recently slammed Ben Simmons, claiming he should have been arrested for robbery. He was annoyed that today's players made more money than the previous ones.

Back in 2022, Kevin Durant claimed that Charles Barkley had a problem with him simply because he couldn't accept the fact that today's players were making more money than he was. Barkley did not respond, but O'Neal said the former player was indeed angry about how much money the current player makes.

“讓我告訴你一些事情，你認為我很高興魯迪·戈貝爾賺2.5億嗎？”奧尼爾說。“凱文·杜蘭特，你絕對是對的。我們很生氣我們那樣打球，我們沒有得到那些。你們這些命中率22%的射手，卻能賺3000萬美元。”

“鄧尼斯·斯科特整個職業生涯的命中率接近45%到50%，但他賺的最多可能只有700萬美元，你們當然有理由生氣”奧尼爾補充道。“我們變得小氣，你猜怎麼著？我們有自己的觀點，我們的觀點很重要。”

Well, O'Neill and others will only get more and more depressed as time goes on. These contracts are only going to get bigger, and some people who don't deserve a huge contract will get one, just like Rudy Gobert did.