Steph Curry snubbed Michael Jordan when naming the NBA star he wishes he played with after controversial Hall of Fame comment

Basketball’s biggest names are never short of an opinion or two

Steph Curry named the NBA Hall of Famer he most wished he’d played with and the legendary Michael Jordan was nowhere to be found.

NBA stars are prone to discussing one another’s sporting and competitive attributes, which makes for a long and rich heritage of debate about basketball’s greatest of all time.

Jordan is widely regarded as a top contender for the crown along with the likes of Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Curry himself.

But the 37-year-old picked out an icon of a different ilk when it came to selecting a fantasy teammate.

Curry opted for former LA Lakers colossus and four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal when asked to name the Hall of Famer he’d have liked to play alongside.

“Probably Shaq,” he told Complex Sports via the Mirror. “Just to see that dominance up close in person.”

O’Neal was a center for the Lakers as well as the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat before shorter spells elsewhere at the end of his playing career. Standing taller than seven feet, he added a long list of individual accolades to his championship rings with LA and Miami.

The 15-time NBA All-Star has been a master of building his fortune after basketball and has an astonishing reported personal worth of $500,000,000.

Lots of basketball’s greats would name Jordan as the dream colleague and many would recognise Curry as a potential Hall of Famer.

Jordan once said that Curry’s not a Hall of Famer yet – technically true, as it is for James – and Curry responded in a Sole Collector interview.

Shaquille O’Neal played with LeBron James for one season at Cleveland Cavaliers (Image: Getty)

“I think I’m good, but then I’m never complacent,” said the Golden State Warriors point guard.

“I know I have more to prove to myself. When you hear a guy like that, who’s the greatest of all time, it’s kind of funny.

“Since we’ve been on this stage, we’ve heard a lot of retired guys chiming in on this generation of basketball players and evaluating talent and saying their generation was better and all that.

“It’s a great conversation for the fans to get in on.”

The Warriors were eliminated from the 2025 NBA Playoffs at the conference semi-final stage, losing in five to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Curry had missed most of the series with a hamstring injury but was believed to be lining up a return to action in a Game 6 that never materialised.