The Tape
Was Bernard King better than Shaquille O'Neal?
Bernard King, 1977-1993, against Shaquille O'Neal, 1992-2011. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, their best seasons score the same: Bernard King at 33.9 a game in 1984-85, Shaquille O'Neal at 34.7 in 1999-00. The scoring argument is a tie and anyone who claims otherwise is quoting raw numbers from different leagues.
Shaquille O'Neal wins the glass by 8.4 rebounds a game (13.6 to 5.2), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Bernard King: A scoring title at 53.0% from the field, almost entirely from inside 18 feet, and a comeback from a torn ACL nobody else had made. Shaquille O'Neal: The most physically unanswerable player of the last 40 years, in the lowest-scoring era since 1955.
The numbers are free. The verdict is in the Vault.
13 Dossiers, every Dispatch ever sent, and the Tape. One payment, $39, yours for good. The archive keeps growing every morning after you have paid.
Every pairing in the file makes the call in writing, and pass holders read all of them.
5 Dispatches in the archive so far, and one more every morning. 14-day refund, no questions asked.
Read the file: Bernard King
The next argument
Get the Dispatch
One email a day: what happened last night, and the game, player or era from history it rhymes with. Four minutes at breakfast, free forever.
Free forever. One tap to leave.