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Despite being one of the most dominant big men in history, Shaquille O’Neal only has one MVP on his resumé. Nearly twenty years later fans still poke fun at his grudge with another former star.

At his peak, Shaq was regularly a perennial finalist for MVP. He took home the hardware in 2000 as a member of the LA Lakers, also leading the team to a championship that year.

In 2005, Shaquille O’Neal came close to winning a second MVP. However, voters ended up going with Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash. The Hall of Fame center has spoken about this on numerous occasions over the years. A fan recently put together a compilation video of such remarks, and it got a response from Shaq.

Shaq's replyShaq’s reply

Nash might have won the MVP race against Shaq that year, but his resumé doesn’t stack up in terms of championships. The $95 million guard was never able to secure a victory on the NBA’s grandest stage.

To this day, Nash is regarded as one of the best point guards of his generation. He finished his career as an eight-time All-Star and led the league in assists per game five times. After retiring in 2014, Nash was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 2018.

Shaquille O’Neal once jokingly had a therapy session over losing MVP to Steve Nash

Since transitioning into a career as a TV analyst, Shaquille O’Neal has touched on his MVP runner-up on countless occasions. He’s managed to have fun with the situation years later, once having a fake therapy session with one of his TNT co-hosts.

During an episode of the talk show “Open Court,” Shaq was asked to put together his starting five of the top players from the 2000s. When getting to the point guard position, he named multiple guys instead of Nash. Ernie Johnson then turned the set into a therapy session, where the Orlando Magic legend jokingly talked about his true feelings. As expected, Shaq filled the room with laughter from his remarks.

“It was this little good looking David Beckham little guy running around like a gnat,” Shaq said. “He would always beat me out in the MVP voting, and I’m averaging 28 and 15 without the free throws.”

Looking back at the 2004-05 season, Shaquille O’Neal averaged 22.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game on a Miami Heat team that won 59 games. As for Nash, he averaged 15.5 ppg and led the NBA with 11.5 apg. The Suns managed to do slightly better in the regular season, posting a record of 62-20.

As the maestro of an offense that went on to win 60+ games, Nash would take home the first of what would be back-to-back MVPs.