I was thinking, obviously he was more mobile and handled the ball in Orlando, and he’d do that a lot more in a modern offense, but MVP Shaq who was bigger and handled less, would he be better or worse?

It’s common to just say any legend from the past would dominate now, and Shaq would definitely draw even more fouls now than he did even back then. But also, so much of Shaq’s game would be an offensive foul now, I think hack-a-Shaq would be even worse, and he’d be drawn away from the basket and into pick and rolls CONSTANTLY so his weaknesses would be exploited a lot more.

Personally, I can see Shaq averaging a lot more points, but fouling out a lot and being nowhere near the defensive presence because he’d be hunted on switches constantly and drawn out to the perimeter, and his rim protection would be less useful when you’ve got bigs who stretch the floor and can pass (Jokic being the prime example but even Embiid is passing really well this year).

Or do you just surround Shaq with shooters like Dwight in Orlando except he’s twice the offensive player, and you live with him being exploited on defence because your offence would be unstoppable (aside from hacking him)?