Shaq shows A’ja Wilson tough love in passionate campaign to lower WNBA rims but gets ripped by Candace Parker

Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

A recent topic of debate regarding the WNBA has been whether or not the league should lower its rims so that players can dunk the ball consistently. Former Los Angeles Lakers superstar center Shaquille O’Neal has been one of the leading advocates for the league to tinker with the height of its rims.

Last month, O’Neal made his case to Chicago Sky star center Angel Reese as to why the WNBA’s rims should be lowered to under 10 feet in height.

Fast forward to Sunday night, and O’Neal once again campaigned for a change to the rims on Instagram, and he even tagged Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson in the post. But former Los Angeles Sparks standout Candace Parker seemed to express disagreement with O’Neal.

The WNBA has grown in popularity of late, and Reese and Wilson are two big reasons why that is the case.

Wilson is on the heels of maybe the best WNBA season in the history of the league. She became the first WNBA player ever to score 1,000-plus points in a single campaign, as she dropped 1,021 across 38 games played.

The 28-year-old also averaged an unbelievable 26.9 points per game on 51.8 percent shooting from the field and 84.4 percent from the charity stripe with the Aces in the 2024 season.

Thanks in large to her historic scoring campaign, Wilson earned the WNBA’s MVP award last season and also landed on the All-WNBA First Team.

As for Reese, she has just one season in the WNBA under her belt, but she impressed folks with her ability to dominate the glass in her inaugural season in the league.

She pulled down a whopping 13.1 rebounds per contest, with 5.1 of those boards coming on the offensive glass. Reese proved to be quite the capable scorer as well, even if she shot just 39.1 percent from the floor.

Regardless of whether or not the WNBA lowers its rims like O’Neal wants it to, the future of the WNBA seems to be in great shape with Wilson and Reese as two of the faces of the league.