Shaquille O'Neal Must See A'ja Wilson's Brilliant Retort to WNBA Rim Lowering Idea
Back in October, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal reasserted his (controversial) case for why he believes the WNBA should consider lowering its rims and letting players dunk during his appearance on the "Unapologetically Angel" show, which Angel Reese hosts.
"A pretty girl dunking on the rim? I'm watching that all day," Shaq said to Reese, who laughed out loud.
Shaq added, "It's about seeing stuff you ain't supposed to see... Why you think people love Caitlin Clark? Besides her skills?"
"She can shoot threes from logo," Reese responded.
"We never seen that before. That's my point," Shaq said. "She's doing stuff we've never seen before. [I've] never seen nobody [shoot logo threes] on a consistent basis.
"So I'm telling you, if you just lower it like this," Shaq then said of lowering the WNBA rim while gesturing with his fingers being about an inch apart.
Shaq used Caitlin Clark as an example for why the #WNBA should lower its rims on @angelreeseshow pic.twitter.com/vHn6ctpc4N
— Grant Young (@GrvntYoung) October 24, 2024
Many fans find this take belittling to women's basketball players, as if they needed to be able to dunk in order to garner interest.
And 2024 WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson provided a brilliant and logical retort to Shaq's take when she was asked about potentially lowered rims during her appearance on the "Roommates Show" with New York Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart
"What is it gonna do?" Wilson said when Brunson said he wanted lowered rims for the WNBA.
"I would much rather just gear my offseason to 'Okay, verti[cal] maxing it out, let's focus on this jumping,'" Wilson continued.
"Versus lowering it an inch? That could change all of our shots. Do y'all not understand that?"
A’ja clocked them so hard with this one. Got them ass like 😶😶 lmaooo pic.twitter.com/EWimyCTeDT
— N@ (@cakeliketswift) November 22, 2024
Any hooper will understand that the slightest condition changes to the ball, rim, or multiple other factors can have detrimental consequences to shooting efficiency. So a lowered rim — even if it's just one inch — would probably pose the shooting problems Wilson is alluding to.
Quite a sound argument from the Aces superstar.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.