😱 “Only One Can Stop Him.” Shaquille O’Neal shocks the basketball world with his pick to stop Victor Wembanyama — and no one saw it coming.
Not Giannis. Not Embiid. Not Jokic. In a moment that sent social media into a frenzy, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal dropped one of his boldest takes yet — declaring that the only player capable of stopping Victor Wembanyama right now is none other than Kai Sotto, the 7-foot-3 phenom from the Philippines.
The comment came during a segment that started off routine but quickly went viral when Shaq uttered the line that made analysts freeze. “Kai Sotto is the only guy who can stop Wemby now,” he said, dead serious. The panel laughed — at first. Then, realizing Shaq wasn’t joking, the laughter turned into stunned silence.
Immediately, the internet exploded. Within hours, “Kai Sotto” was trending across multiple platforms, with fans from Manila to Miami flooding timelines with disbelief, pride, and debate. Could Shaq — a man who’s faced every dominant big in NBA history — actually be seeing something the rest of the world hasn’t yet?
Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French unicorn redefining modern basketball, has been unstoppable in his sophomore NBA season — combining guard-like agility, rim protection, and shot-making that feels straight out of a video game. Coaches are running out of ideas, defenders are running out of courage, and the league is running out of comparisons.
But Kai Sotto?
The 22-year-old Filipino center has been quietly building his résumé, from international play to his recent rise in global recognition. Standing nearly as tall as Wemby, Sotto combines length, touch, and a calm defensive presence — tools that, in Shaq’s eyes, could make him uniquely suited to counter the French superstar’s alien-like game.
“It’s not about who jumps higher,” Shaq reportedly elaborated off-camera. “It’s about who understands how to use their size and timing. Kai has that. He’s not scared. He’s got the tools — he just needs the stage.”
That “stage” may come sooner than anyone thinks. Scouts have been quietly monitoring Sotto’s development overseas, and whispers of an NBA return have only grown louder after Shaq’s endorsement.
For fans in the Philippines, the quote wasn’t just shocking — it was historic. Shaq, one of the most dominant forces the game has ever known, had just mentioned Kai Sotto in the same breath as Victor Wembanyama. The pride was instant, and the headlines unstoppable.
Still, skeptics argue that Shaq’s claim might have been part showmanship, part motivation. After all, O’Neal has a history of making outlandish but strategic statements to hype up players he believes in. Whether this was genuine belief or a masterclass in psychological chess, one thing’s for sure: everyone’s talking.
As one viral tweet put it:
“Shaq just put Kai Sotto in the conversation with Wemby. That’s not smoke — that’s ignition.”
Whatever the truth, Shaq’s declaration has done something rare in today’s game — it’s united two basketball worlds: the NBA elite and the global fanbase hungry for representation.
And now, as Wembanyama continues to torch the league, millions are wondering the same thing Shaq dared to suggest:
Could the answer to stopping the unstoppable really come from Manila?
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