NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal thinks that given the chance, he and Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James would have brought the Cleveland Cavaliers to the championship.
In one of the recent editions of “The Big Podcast,” Shaquille O’Neal talked about the timeline of how he and LeBron James got to play under the same team, which was the Cleveland Cavaliers. Shaq expressed regret that had he and LeBron got to play earlier when he was still in his prime, they could have elevated the Cavs together to an easy championship.
“I wish we could have met two years earlier,” Shaq said. “ We were actually number one. We were number one seed in the playoffs. I was a role player and then Big Baby [Glen Davis] broke my hand so I had to sit out six weeks.”
Glen Davis, in 2010, injured Shaq’s thumb in a game between the Cavs and the Celtics. Shaq needed to have surgery for it and ended up missing the rest of the season.
“When I came back, I was all out of rhythm and out of shape and we lost to Boston but I think if I had met him two years earlier we definitely could have won definitely, but again, like I said when we were there, we were number one in the East.
“No, nobody could beat us.”
Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James Share “Three-Point” Sentiment
Both Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James agree that the NBA as it is now is suffering over too many three-point shots in every game.
“We gotta do something,” James said. “Obviously the last couple [of] years have not been a great All-Star Game [and] that Sunday night. But I mean, listen, it’s a bigger conversation. It’s not just the All-Star Game.”
“Its a bigger conversation than the All-Star game” – LeBron James on the state of the NBA pic.twitter.com/q5YZuZ8acL
— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) December 19, 2024
While LeBron did not specifically cite Shaq as an inspiration for this take, Shaq has been quoted several times pointing out that the league has a problem with too many threes being shot, which he believes made the NBA of today [plain, repetitive, and boring.
“I have a theory,” Shaq previously said. “[NBA ratings are] down because we’re looking at the same thing. Everybody’s running the same plays. At the damn top of the key, dribble handoff. I think everybody’s looking at the same thing. I think it makes the game boring.”
Shaq believes NBA viewership is down because everyone wants to shoot threes
(🎥 @bigpodwithshaq / https://t.co/FRGChSptKO) pic.twitter.com/RDwog4gtAx
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) November 7, 2024
Shaquille O’Neal continues to co-host Inside The NBA where they discuss highlights of games, player insights, and everything else in between.
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