Shaq lists Hakeem Olajuwon in his all-time starting five

In something that should come as no surprise to anyone who watched even a shred of Rockets basketball in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Shaquille O’Neal made a recent appearance on Sunday TODAY and was asked to list his all-time starting five, and he listed Hakeem Olajwuon as his starting center alongside Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Karl Malone.

It’s an immense show of respect from a guy not always known for respecting his competition (anyone remember the racially-tinged Yao Ming comments?), though to be fair, Shaq almost always deferred to Hakeem as one of his idols throughout his career.

It’s important to note this, because I have this argument fairly often with basketball talking…