Barkley by a mile the first half of the 90’s. Shaq the second half.

Barkley was pretty much done as an elite top 10 player after 1995.

Shaq was a physical freak never seen before.

Barkley was highly controversial and well-hated among racist types. If you liked Trainwreck personalities with MVP game Barkley was your guy. Eminently quotable, always making news, but never faltering.

He literally said “I am not a role model” and lived it.

Probably Shaq since he was way more marketable and made the top 50 players list being so good so soon 

Shaq. After his first few years in the league he was consistently getting more All Star votes than Barkley.

In my experience as a kid, Shaq by a mile. Barkley was huge, but Shaq was everywhere.

I know I even had a Shaq shirt and a Shaq poster. I lived near Chicago, wasn’t a huge Shaq fan, and didn’t like the Magic.

Did he just call me an oldhead?  What the hell man…

I can only speak for me but Barkley was more fun to watch. He was athletic and had a lot of moves under the basket. In his first few years playing for Orlando Shaq was fun to watch, he actually ran up and down the court. Eventually though Shaq’s game got tedious to see over and over. He’s very big. He stood under the basket, he got fouled, he dunked.

Marge Simpson knew who Shaq was

Shaq and it’s not close

Barkley was way bigger in the 90s - hosted SNL, dunked on Godzilla, threw a camera man through a window, MVP of ‘92 Dream Team.

Shaq was in Blue Chips in 1994 so he was already a big deal in the 90s, but his fame and career really took off in the early 2000s.

Barkley was a great player but was controversial. Got in off court trouble. Famous quote of “I am not a role model”. Barkley was a generation earlier than Shaq and felt more authentic.

Shaq was a force of nature on and off the court. For me he was the first to really embrace the idea of being a brand like Jordan. Shaq always felt a bit contrived and performative.

Both were amazing players. Shaq was more popular with general public.

Check Shaq’s IMDB for the answer. He crossed over to a level Barkley didn’t, and few have.

I was a super casual (child) fan in the 90’s, and I only learned about Barkley from Space Jam.

Shaq, on the other hand, was fucking everywhere. Way more of a household name, imo.

As far as actual basketball fans, I’m not sure, lol.

Neither were as popular as Lil’ Penny! That’s Tyra Banks, fool!

Man, Barkley was definitely world famous, but almost in a notorius way. There was a reason for the “I am not a role model” stuff. But he was in commercials, he had cameos in movies. He was MVP of the ‘92 Dream Team, etc. But I don’t know if he was “popular”. Does fame always equate to popularity? I don’t know. For as big as he was, I don’t know how many people “liked” him prior to being a TV personality. I did, but I always felt many others did not. Which may be where my point of view comes from. I told people I like Barkley, and others were always like “really?”.

But Shaq was different. He was popular-popular. Kids saw Shaq and were in awe. He was dominant, he was fresh, he was fun. He carried a new franchise. He starred in movies. He was a rapper. Did he do all of the off-court stuff well? No. But he did it, and that was the point. Dude leveraged his fame to constantly put himself out there and do new things. And it worked. He was world-famous and liked.

Funny how perspectives have shifted for both. I would say Chuck is now beloved by many while Shaq’s appeal has been diminshed a bit. Both are still famous.

“Oldheads” *sob*…and it’s not even a question about NBA stars of the ‘80s, to say nothing of the ‘70s or ‘60s. 

Shaq was a platinum selling rapper, starred in his own (failed) Hollywood films. Barkley was a household name but not like that.

Their primes didn’t really overlap so it’s a bit strange to compare the two. But I’d say Barkley was more famous/popular until around ‘94-95. Before that Barkley  was on the Dream Team, was MVP and made the finals with the Suns, lots of commercials etc.

After that Shaq became more popular when he brought the Magic to the finals, then went to LA and started making movies and rap albums.

Shaq was everywhere, pepsi commercials, shoes, birthday plates, figurines, food. He was a cultural sensation. Somehow he’s always stayed visible even when he’s an idiot.

At their peak, Shaq was miles ahead of Barkley in terms of popularity. I was more partial to Charles myself though.

As a player Shaq was more dominant. I think Charles accomplished more based on the physical tools he was born with in general. Personal opinion of course

Considering Shaq was in popular rap songs and in movies, I’m going to say Shaq. He was marketing gold.

Shaq by a lot but Barkley might be the most slept on player in history. He was actually cold.

Barkley for the first half of the 90’s he was at the peak of his powers, Shaq came in and everyone was really excited because he was such a physical freak. Similar to Wemby now. Barkley was a lovable guy so I think people who were fans of his in the 80’s and 90’s were fans of his the whole time. Probably still are. We all see how Barkley is, he’s a lovable guy.

shaq became a multimedia sensation

I begged my mom to buy me Kazaam shoes because they had Shaq on them, before I even knew it was from a movie he was soon to star in. I lived on the other side of the country and all of my friends and I were big fans of Penny and Shaq.

We knew Barkley as a great player, that’s about it.

My uncle is most into basketball of any of my relatives and he absolutely loved Barkley.

I’ve heard of shaq-fu, never heard of no barkley-kwon-do.

Barkley was really popular but he fell off mid 90s

Kind of 2 separate eras

Chuck was near the end when Shaq got there

Shaq exploded onto the scene. He had video games, he rapped, in movies etc. He didn’t break backboard, but broke the whole supports.

As soon as Shaq made the nba he was the bigger deal

Shaq and it wasn’t close

Chuck and Shaq was a 00s guy really 

Shaq. People hated Philly Barkley, the spitting, fights, ‘I am not a role model’ commercials, etc…such a complete 180 from the Chuck we all know now.

I would say Shaq but I have East bias. I didn’t spend a lot of time watching West games and I am not even sure what games were nationally available back in the mid 90’s.

So I knew of Barkley but didn’t see much of him by the time Shaq was around. Shaq was more popular by the time Barkley went to the Rockets.

It was Jordan #1 and then Barkley was the next star appearing on late night shows and commercials. Then Shaq eclipsed both of them in star power. Rodman kind of became the new Barkley and Shaq is still everywhere.

I was a Barkley fan for a while, but you cannot understand the cultural explosion that Shaq had.

Yeah, Jordan had done most of it before (commercials, shoes, movies). But that happened in phases.

Shaq was a supernova. From the start. I don’t think anyone exploded like he did

As a kid in the 90s I feel like Shaq was far more popular than Barkley. I’m from South Jersey and am a Sixer fan so I know in my friend group we didn’t like Barkley bc it felt like he deserted us. But even with that being said I feel like Shaq was as close to being as popular as MJ as anyone could be

I love Chuck and named my first dog Barkley in 1992 but Shaq was immediately a superstar and was doing movies, albums and TV shows. He was a phenomenon and more popular from his rookie season on

I was a Barkley fan.  I hated that Shaq went to the Lakers and his rapping and Movies sucked.

I’d say now I’ve flipped and enjoy Shaq and less Barkley, but still like Charles.

Barkley was a 8 yr vet by the time Shaq got to the league why compare them 🤔 Barkley was the man and so was Shaq

Shaq was a bigger mainstream star but Chuck was the one that more kids wanted to play like. and they rocked his shoes more than Shaq’s

I still used to see more people wearing a Penny Hardaway jersey than a Shaq jersey at the Orlando Magic

I had 3 jerseys growing up in the 90’s, Shaq, Kemp, and Larry Johnson.

I did pull hard for Chuck and the Suns though

Barkley had more skills, Shaq was insanely dominant despite not winning until becoming a Laker. I guess over the entire decade, Shaq was more popular by a slight margin.

It was a fun time to watch the NBA.

It’s Shaq and it isn’t close

it all depends on how old you were at the time. I graduated high school and went into the military in orlando FL just as Shaq was entering the league. Barkley at that time was playing for a crappy Sixers team and Shaq for people my age was way more popular. Barkley was the asshole celebrity at that time as well, he had multiple incidents off the court around that time and actually is more beloved now than he was when he played.

I mean there’s a reason why movie studios thought it was a good idea to have Shaq play a lead role in not one, but two movies. Reebok tried to build their entire basketball shoe brand around him. He also launched a rap album that hit platinum…

So Shaq was huge straight out of LSU even before winning everything with the Lakers

Shaq the minute he stepped foot on the court while in college. The hype was HUGE.

I read oldheads and assumed you were gonna talk about the 70s and 80s.

The global hype around Shaq was absurd and we saw most of his games here in Australia. He was a huge deal since he got drafted. The whole “old head” thing…hmmm

Abdul jabbar is the greatest ever! Not sure James is even in the top 5