"He made me change positions": Channing Frye recalls facing Shaquille O'Neal once and choosing to embrace a different role

Channing Frye played in 13 NBA seasons and is a one-time champion. After retiring in 2019, he has appeared on a lot of talk shows sharing his insight and analysis about the NBA.

Recently, Frye chimed in about who he has got on his Mount Rushmore of basketball. Here is who Frye included:

"Mine is Shaq, Tim Duncan, LeBron, Magic, and Jordan."

While there are only four heads on Mount Rushmore, Frye mentioned five players with one of them being an honorable mention. He continued at the 20:50 mark:

"Now somebody argued me down about Kareem, I'm not gonna say nothing. Most of my list is either who I grew up watching or had the opportunity to play"

He continued:

"I respect Kareem, but me as a human being going up against that ogre aka Shaq, I have to put him on that list because he made me change positions. I was one of the 450 greatest players of all-time. I played him one time and would start shooting threes the next day. Like, this ain't it."

Channing Frye was the 8th pick in the 2005 draft. He is officially listed as a power forward. However, when he faced Shaquille O'Neal, he was no match for the physicality and dominance that O'Neal brought to the game.

He mentioned how after this experience he started shooting a lot more three-pointers in order to re-construct his game. This experience grew Frye's respect towards Shaq even more and he eventually placed O'Neal on his Mount Rushmore.

Channing Frye is a supporter of Shaquille O'Neal who is often left out of the debate when talking about the greatest players ever.

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Channing Frye on Shaquille O'Neal being part of the GOAT discussion: "I just get mad when people don't include Shaq in the conversation"

Shaquille O'Neal with a monster dunk

Channing Frye has been an avid supporter of Shaquille O'Neal ever since he personally witnessed his skill on the court. The 7-foot-1 heavily built center dominated the league and had an unparalleled stretch of five to seven years of peak performance in the NBA.

When it was all said and done, Shaquille O'Neal finished in the top 10 in the all-time NBA scoring list with 28,596 points. In the rebounding category, he finished in the 15th spot with 13,099 rebounds. He also managed to get 2,732 blocks and finished in the eighth spot.

Ultimately, he managed to win four NBA championships which cemented his place as one of the greatest players to ever play the game.

Despite these accolades, O'Neal is consistently ignored in discussions about who the GOAT is. Frye took notice of this and was frustrated that not enough people were talking about O'Neal's impact.

Here's what Frye said on the Road Trippin' podcast:

"I just get mad when people don't include Shaq in the conversation. It's hard to be, one, for that long in this league and to be unanimously respected. Like, there cannot be one person who is just the greatest. That's so disrespectful it, like, bothers me."

There is no denying Shaq's dominance in the NBA or his ability to absolutely torment defensive schemes. That said, the Mount Rushmore can only accommodate four players.

Although Frye believes that O'Neal deserves a spot there, the jury belongs to all fans and critics who might not see him in the same light.