SALT LAKE CITY – After a week of sparring with Shaquille O’Neal, Rudy Gobert was ready to laugh off the criticism leveled at him by Skip Bayless.

Bayless, the infamous columnist, and Fox Sports host called out Gobert after the Utah Jaz center said he would lock up O’Neal if the two centers were to match up.

On his show “Undisputed,” Bayless made his argument against Gobert.

Rudy Gobert says he would've "locked" Shaq up:

"Rudy, you are barking up the biggest, wrongest tree. Shaq was the most dominating offensive force in the history of this league." — @RealSkipBayless pic.twitter.com/082mkNdhdr

— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) May 10, 2022

“Rudy, you’ve got to wake up, you’ve got to wise up, and you’ve got to shut up, and give it up,” Bayless said, “because you are nothing but a finesse defender. You are a fake tough guy.”

Bayless made the comments after Gobert and O’Neal exchanged jabs throughout the week,

“I know you’ve got to sort of defend your honor on social media,” Bayless said of Gobert, “but you are barking up the biggest, wrongest tree on this one.”

In a podcast earlier this week, host Spice Adams told Shaq he thought Gobert would hold him to 12 points if the two players matched up.

After exchanging jabs this week, Shaq said he respects Rudy Gobert's belief that he could lock up the Hall of Fame center. #TakeNote https://t.co/qusfiYSA9t

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) May 11, 2022

O’Neal responded by saying he’d score 12 points in three minutes on Gobert. The Jazz center responded by saying he’d “lock” Shaq up.

In an interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks, Shaq explained his motivation for provoking Gobert throughout the past week.

“A lot of times when I throw jabs, people think it’s hate or whatever,” Shaq said, “when really, I’m just challenging them.”

Gobert casually brushed off the comments from Bayless on Twitter.

These people are crazy man 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/OEbCQbVUvd

— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) May 11, 2022

“These people are crazy man,” Gobert tweeted, with images of him, Shaq, and a dog laughing over the footage of Bayless.”

After his back and forth with the Hall of Fame center, Gobert explained his mindset to Rooks.

“I don’t have beef with Shaq, he said,” Rooks told O’Neal. “Yes, I do think I could lock him up. I’m never going to look at someone, whoever it is, and say, ‘Yeah, you would score 40 on me.’ That’s not my mentality.”

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