Shaquille O’Neal is the first to praise Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese and all her accomplishments. The Hall of Famer and former LSU great built a bond so close with Reese she’s said he’s a father figure in her life.

But O’Neal, one of the greatest to play in the NBA, admitted something about the player many have deemed Reese’s No. 1 rival: Caitlin Clark, O’Neal said, is “the real deal.”

O’Neal was in Chicago on Aug. 30 to watch Reese’s Sky take on Clark’s Fever in the teams’ final meeting of the 2024 season. Reese debuted Reebok’s newest basketball shoe, and O’Neal came to cheer her on. The Fever ran Chicago out of the building, winning 100-81 behind a career-high 31 points from Clark, who also dished 12 assists. Reese, meanwhile, had 10 points and 11 rebounds. O’Neal walked away impressed with Clark.

“When I see stuff on TV I’m like, OK, I’d like to see it in person. Well, I saw it in person,” O’Neal said of Clark. “She can play … from a basketball standpoint, she makes all the right plays, gets everybody involved and she has that Steph Curry (shooting) range.”

O’Neal said the 2024 Rookie of the Year race will likely come down to Reese and Clark. After beating the Sky in three of four matchups and securing a playoff spot a couple weeks ago, most believe Clark will win in a landslide.

Another factor: Reese announced over the weekend that she would miss the rest of the season after sustaining a wrist injury that needs surgery. The No. 7 pick in the 2024 draft, Reese was leading the league in rebounds — 13.1 per game — at the time of her announcement.

O’Neal anticipates that the Clark vs. Reese talk won’t die down anytime soon, either.

“What makes it good for the game is it’ll be those two forever,” he said. “You can make little games of it. In college, Angel’s up one (cause of winning a national championship). Now you can say, OK Caitlin’s in the playoffs, is Angel going to make the playoffs? Little games that you can play that keep their names going. I’m happy for both of them, I’m happy for women’s sports.”

And given their popularity, O’Neal said, which has brought record attendance, ratings and overall lifted the league into the public eye, it’s time for another change.

“Now it’s time for equal pay,” he said. “They’ve always been great, but the space they’re in now, it’s time for everybody to be getting equal pay. I would love to see one of them make $10, 15, 20 million a year, they deserve it. But the fans have to continue to support … you gotta keep (going) to the games, buying merch, you gotta keep doing all that stuff and the more they do that, the more they’ll get paid.”

Asked about recent comments from Charles Barkley, who called out other WNBA players in May, saying they were being “petty” and “jealous” when it comes to Clark, O’Neal offered a different perspective.

“There’s envious jealousy, there’s professional jealousy,” O’Neal said. “Sure there’s a lot of people who are professionally jealous. I am. I’m professionally jealous of a lot of people. I’m professionally jealous of Steph (Curry), he makes $60 million. But hey, that’s life.

“You gotta also understand that we’re not just going to give it to you because everybody else is giving it to you,” O’Neal continued. “You still gotta earn it. Chuck had to go through that, I had to go through that, so I understand what everybody’s doing. Yeah you’re great, but you ain’t that great yet. Calm down. We still got Diana Taurasi, we still got A’ja Wilson, if you’re gonna give (Caitlin) props make sure our girls that are dominating in this league get the same props.”

O’Neal highlighted specifically the play of Wilson, the runaway favorite to win her third MVP. Through 34 games Wilson is averaging a league-best 27.3 points per game, to go with 11.9 rebounds per game (second-best in league) and 2.7 blocks per game (first). Wilson is expected to contend for defensive player of the year honors, too.

“Loudmouths like Chuck are talking about hating — it’s not hating,” O’Neal said. “It’s like, you’re good but let’s slow it down a notch.  As good as Caitlin Clark is, we’ve had a lot of young ladies who have been doing good (before) and not getting props. People like props and they want to feel good when you’re talking about (their league) … it’s not hating. Everybody has to wait their turn.”

Email Lindsay Schnell at [email protected] and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell