Shaquille O'Neal turns on Charles Barkley over Caitlin Clark 'jealousy' comments

Shaquille O'Neal gave his two cents on the surrounding Caitlin Clark conversation that has swept the basketball landscape this summer.

O'Neal's "Inside the NBA" teammate Charles Barkley already weighed in on the discussion via the Bill Simmons podcast when he said many in the media and WNBA hold a "petty jealousness" towards Clark.

"There's envious jealousy; there's professional jealousy," O'Neal said on the US Today Sports’ Sports Seriously show this week. "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. He makes $60 million. But hey, that's life."

• Angel Reese had made feelings on Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon perfectly clear
• Caitlin Clark makes Diana Taurasi regret her words after WNBA history made

Clark is the current favorite for WNBA Rookie of the Year , averaging 19.1 points, a league-leading 8.4 assists, and 5.4 rebounds per game for the Indiana Fever.

O"Neal expanded upon his comments. He said: "Loudmouths like Chuck are talking about hating... it’s not hating. It’s like, (Clark is) 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."

It should be noted that O'Neal, an LSU alumnus, shares a close personal relationship with Clark's longtime competitor and rival Angel Reese , a fellow LSU graduate.

"Yeah you’re great, but you ain’t that great yet," O'Neal continued. "Calm down. We still got Diana Taurasi, we still got A’ja Wilson, if you’re gonna give (Clark) props make sure our girls that are dominating in this league get the same props.”

Clark set the all-time single-season WNBA assists record in the Fever's Friday night defeat to the Las Vegas Aces. She scored 19 points and added 9 dimes in the narrow 78-74 defeat.

The loss sees Indiana fall to 19-19 on the season, though the Fever still sit a game above the Phoenix Mercury and in the sixth seed in the WNBA standings. Clark has two regular season games left to pad to her record before she embarks on what will be her first trip to the WNBA playoffs.

O'Neal and Barkley will team up for what looks like will be the last season of "Inside the NBA" on TNT . The pair have worked alongside fellow analyst Kenny Smith and host Ernie Johnson since 2011.