Shaquille O’Neal has spoken out on who is the greatest athlete to come out of Louisiana State University (LSU) and said there is someone better than him and former Tigers quarterback, Joe Burrow.
Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, The Big Podcast with Shaq, the NBA legend has named Angel Reese, who helped the Tigers to their first ever college basketball national championship.
Reese had a stellar NCAA tournament and was named its Most Outstanding Player after breaking records on the way to helping LSU lift the trophy.
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For the contribution she made and how she has conducted herself through the tournament and since the win, Shaq has said there has been no better athlete out of the college.
Shaq, 51, claimed on his podcast: “She’s probably the greatest athlete to come out of LSU sports. You heard it here first. Male and female.”
The interviewer asked him: “Yourself included?”
Shaq was adamant with his reply, saying: “Yes. Because, guess what? She delivered. She delivered that package.”
The NBA legend went on to explain: “See a lot of us got the package and we still got the package in our truck. She delivered that package.
“So, you know, it’s a lot of names you could throw around, men and women, but she’s probably the greatest athlete.
“Some people are going to exclude it to women athlete. I’m not doing that, she’s the greatest athlete to ever come out of LSU because she got it done.”
The former basketball star said that Reese deserved to be ranked above Burrow, who had a sensational season in Baton Rouge before heading to the NFL.
The 26-year-old Cincinnati Bengals QB helped take LSU to the national title and also won the Heisman Trophy in 2019.
Shaq said: “Joe Burrow got it done a couple of years ago, but she’s way more athletic than he is so, you heard it first.”
The former Los Angeles Lakers star, who is regarded as one of the greatest ever basketball players, said that he discounted himself from the reckoning as he didn’t win a championship during his time at LSU.
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Reese, 20, averaged 23.0 points and 15.4 rebounds per contest across 36 games with the Tigers and set an all-time Division I women’s basketball record with 34 double-doubles in a season.
She has only had a year in Baton Rouge after transferring from Maryland ahead of the 2022-23 season but has made quick strides to be considered one of their all-time greats.
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