Shaquille O'Neal revisits Michael Jordan warning about downside of shooting 3s amid modern NBA catching flak over obsession with 3-pointers

Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal appears to have weighed in on the issue of the league's ratings plummeting. One culprit that is being blamed for the drop in ratings is the growing fondness for 3-point shots and it appears that O'Neal agrees that deep shots are to blame.

Shaq appeared to give his two cents by posting an Instagram story that featured six-time champion Michael Jordan.

Shaquille O'Neal's IG Story (Photo credits: shaq/Instagram)

O'Neal reposted this story from the account of one of Jordan's former teammates, Stacey King. The reel featured Jordan discussing why he did not want to rely on 3-point shots.

"Shooting is something I don't want to excel at," Jordan said. "Because it takes away from all phases of my game. My game is fake, drive to the hole, penetrate, dish off, dunk, whatever."

"When you have that mentality as I found out in the first game of making 3s, you don't go to the hole as much. You go to the 3-point line sitting there, waiting for someone to find you. That's not my mentality and I don't want to create that because it takes away from other parts of my game."

This statement from Michael Jordan came after Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trail Blazers. In that game, Jordan hit six 3-pointers in the first half, a record at the time.

Jordan was well-known for his unreliable 3-point shooting, especially earlier in his career. In his first four years in the NBA, he never shot above 20 percent from downtown. Overall, he averaged only 32.7 percent from beyond the arc and only 1.7 attempts per game throughout his career.

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Both Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan are in the top ten all-time scorers despite shying away from 3-pointers

The 3-pointer is now a favorite weapon among the NBA's elite scorers, whether with the bigs or the guards. However, this was not always the case, as seen with the likes of Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal.

Jordan finished his career with 32,292 points, which ranks him fifth on the all-time scorers list. Jordan etched his name among the league's most proficient scorers despite having attempted only 1,778 3s and making 581 of them.

To put things into perspective further, the players directly above and below Jordan on the all-time scorers list both eclipsed the 1000 3-pointers made threshold. Dirk Nowitzki, sixth with 31,560 points, made 1,982 shots beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant, who is fourth with 33,643 points, made 1,827.

Meanwhile, Shaquille O'Neal recorded 28,596 career points, which places him ninth on the all-time scorers list. He cracked the top ten despite going 1-for-22 from behind the arc throughout his career.

Like Jordan, O'Neal is also between two players who have made significantly more 3-pointers. In tenth place is Carmelo Anthony (28,289), who made 1,731 of the 4,873 3-pointers he attempted. At number nine is Kevin Durant, who has registered 29,559 points and counting. So far, Durant has made 2,085 3s on 5380 attempts.