NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal had high praise for Louisiana State University star Angel Reese, who helped secure the school’s first basketball championship, calling her the “greatest athlete” to come out of the school.
The four-time NBA champion, who is an LSU alumnus himself, said on “The Big Podcast with Shaq” that she “delivered” a title, and acknowledged she may have surpassed him among the school’s greatest sports stars.
“She’s probably the greatest athlete to come out of LSU sports,” O’Neal, who currently serves as an analyst on “Inside the NBA,” said. “You heard it here first. Man and female.”
“See, a lot of us got the package and we still got the package in our truck,” he added. “She delivered that package. So, you know, there’s a lot of names you could throw around – men and women – but she’s probably the greatest athlete.”
Shaq with some high praise for a fellow LSU athlete 👀
(via The Big Pod) pic.twitter.com/oR5AmC19rR — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 11, 2023
LSU has a storied athletic history, with NBA Hall of Famer Pete Maravich, track and field stars Lolo Jones and Armand Duplantis and Bengals teammates Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase among its former student-athletes. Still, O’Neal, a two-time All-American during his time at LSU, points to Reese as the best.
“Some people are going to exclude to women athletes,” he said. “I’m not doing that. She’s the greatest athlete to ever come out of LSU because she got it done. Joe Burrow got it done a couple of years ago, but she is way more athletic than he is. So, you heard it here first.”
Reese, who played two seasons with Maryland before transferring to LSU, gained national attention during LSU’s recent championship run, averaging 23.3 points and 15.6 rebounds last season for the Tigers. She received some criticism after taunting Iowa’s Caitlin Clark during the NCAA final, but O’Neal and even Clark were among her most public defenders.
Shaq calls Angel Reese “probably the greatest athlete ever to come out of LSU sports”
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