When Shaquille O’Neal and Draymond Green debated Lakers vs Warriors, the lede got buried there. Shaq was barely open to compromise based on former Warrior player. Few on social media noticed the hilarious animosity with which Shaq blurted Andrew Bogut’s name. Hard to forget the Aussie center who played on the 2015 Dubs squad when they won their championship. Shaq’s feelings towards him aren’t limited to this debate. Nor does he think Bogut is not worthy of guarding him.

As soon as Shaq asked would win between Prime Shaq-led Lakers and the Warriors, the back and forth was insane. But O’Neal’s bonus question, “who the f**k guarding me? Please don’t say Andrew f**king Bogut,” we have to wonder what Bogut did to offend Shaq.

It became prominent again when Green said instead of guarding Shaq, they’d run a tried and tested defensive strategy against the Lakers big man. Even if Shaq’s 9 feet wingspan got past Dray, “Andrew Bogut’s behind. I’m in the front.” That name again made Shaq go, “Stop it,” because Green is sticking to his biggest defender in the face of Big Diesel. There was some subtle disdain too when Shaq grilled Dray on whether he thought Bogut could out-muscle him on the court with his “weak a**.”

In reality there is no animosity between these two centers. The Aussie import was the first overall draft pick (much like Shaq was in 1992) and started his career while O’Neal was on the decline. He played on the Warriors team from 2012 to 2016, won the 2015 championship alongside Green, played with a few other teams including the Lakers before retiring with the Warriors again in 2019.

He is merely Shaq’s counterpart on the Dubs squad which is why he’s part of this debate. At 7 feet, he’s better suited at taking on 7’1″ Big Aristotle. But their history is more entertaining with no rivalry in sight.

Shaq threated Andrew Bogut with stitches

The moment that made Shaquille O’Neal memorable to Andrew Bogut’s Australian fans was in 2016. Bogut joined O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Grant Hill at the desk for a postgame interview following the Warriors winning Game 2 of the finals. While discussing the Dubs’ strong defensive play, Bogut accidentally referred to Grant as ‘Steve’ for some reason. In typical Shaq fashion, he drove up the awkwardness by forcing Bogut into an, “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi,” chant that even got Hill involved.

The part that tickled Australian public and media was when Bogut joked at Shaq, “The big fella’s been there [Australia]. I met some ladies that met him back in Australia.” Shaq warned him that “Snitches get stitches,” and dragged D’Angelo Russell into the joke.

Outside this interview, Bogut has always touted Shaq as one of his inspirations. He’s never said if he can guard Shaq but he can certainly pull his leg.