Shaquille O'Neal names the NBA star who 'messed things up' and is most responsible for viewership figures plummeting

Shaquille O'Neal has named the NBA player he feels is partly responsible for recent plummeting viewing figures in the sport.

Shaq represented six teams in the NBA in a career spanning almost 20 years as his cemented his status as one of the legends of basketball.

The now 52-year-old played for Orlando Magic, the LA Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics before retiring after the 2010-11 season.

In that time, Shaq became an NBA champion on four occasions during spells with the Lakers and the Heat, as well as being named the NBA Finals MVP three times.

He is often put among the other legends of the game including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

However, it appears that viewing figures of the NBA have gone down in recent years compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report from Forbes earlier this year, the NBA Finals between Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks boasted an average audience of 11.3m people.

Though that might sound impressive initially, it is the lowest viewership of the series since 2021, with the average across the five games being lower than the figures for 2022 and 2023.

With viewing figures down, Shaq has now given his views on why this is the case.

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But Shaq believes players such as Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry - who is a four-time NBA Champion and has also been named NBA Finals MVP once - and how he and others play the contemporary game is responsible for the reduced viewing figures.

Speaking on the Big Pod With Shaq, he said: "I have a theory it's down because we're looking at the same thing.

"Everybody's running the same plays.

"I was talking to a coach yesterday and he was saying 'they want to shoot 50 threes' because they were trying to contemplate if I could play in this era.

"I think everybody's looking at the same thing and Steph Curry and those guys messed it up.

"I don't mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team has got a three point shooter so why everybody has the same strategy?

"I think viewership will continue to go down unless we switch things back up."