Shaquille O'Neal Rips Haters, Stands By Nikola Jokic MVP Opinion

Shaquille O'Neal stands on business ... and good luck moving the 7'1" Big Fella!!

TMZ Sports caught up with the 4-time NBA champion this week -- days after his on-air exchange with this year's NBA MVP Nikola Jokic -- and Shaq ain't backing down even a little!!

"Let me say something to all the people that are not smart enough to comprehend what I say," O'Neal told Babcock. "Never said I didn't like Joker, never said anything bad about the Joker. Joker is the best big man in a long time. I just said that I thought Shai Gilgeous-Alexander should've gotten the MVP."

Of course, some people took umbrage with Shaq's approach -- criticizing the Hall of Famer for telling Jokic he believed SGA was this season's most valuable hooper. But, O'Neal has no regrets.

"The reason why I did it on the show's because you know when you say something -- you get all these people involved -- they turn around like 'Shaq doesn't like Joker.' That's why I told Joker and said, 'Hey, man-to-man, brother, you know I love you but somebody else should have got it' and that's what real men do," O'Neal said.

Shaq also took a jab at the critics ... possibly even Shannon Sharpe, who was critical of O'Neal on his podcast.

"It only blew up because certain people who don't have the same kind of ideas that we have to create real content. They want to take what I said, then talk about it and then twist my words. You don't need to twist my words," Shaquille told us.

Diesel -- possibly inspired by Drake and Kendrick Lamar -- used his musical talents to respond to Shay Shay, taking aim at the NFL Hall of Famer in a newly released diss track.

We asked O'Neal about that ... to which he denied being involved. 😂

"That wasn't me. That was AI."

Shaq added ... "I don't know who did that. It sounded good, though. It did sound good."