$500 million man Shaquille O’Neal stands with NBA stars against billionaire NBA owners
Shaquille O'Neal reveals his thoughts on why he supports player empowerment over NBA owners after the blockbuster trade deadline.
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Shaquille O'Neal reveals his thoughts on player empowerment after trade deadline
Shaquille O’Neal has seen more than enough to know his fair share about the politics of the NBA. From a business standpoint to a basketball standpoint, Shaq has seen it all and has been involved in it all, too. Having played for six teams across his NBA career, the Big Diesel knows better than to side with the NBA’s owners and front offices instead of the players.
On the latest episode of his ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq,’ Shaquille O’Neal went over the recent trade deadline, diving into his stance on some of the major trades. Shaq recently caught flak online after his defense of Golden State Warriors star Jimmy Butler during his trade saga with the Miami Heat. On the podcast, he took out time to justify why he sided with Butler over the Heat.
I knew that the business of basketball, from the owner’s standpoint, nobody cares. And that’s why people are like, ‘Why are you sticking up for Jimmy?’ Because they get to trade you in the middle of the night without telling you. But when you say I want to be traded in the middle of the night, now it’s all – he’s a distraction to the team.
Shaq said on his podcast
Shaq believes something else is going on with the Dallas Mavericks 👀
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) February 8, 2025
Watch the full episode here: https://t.co/ChON4acARG pic.twitter.com/6cbWAeP4rr
Shaq had been vocal about his issues with the Miami Heat front office, which led him to defend Jimmy Butler. Having seen the ins and outs of the business side of basketball, the 4x NBA Champion made his stance in support of the players clear.
As O’Neal said on the podcast, front offices and management for teams do not hesitate when trading a player out of the blue. This was clearly evidenced in the shocking trade involving Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis, or even the Warriors trading a player like Dennis Schroder right after he drew parallels between modern NBA trades and slavery.
Shaquille O’Neal drops strong advice for Luka Doncic after trade
Luka Doncic’s blockbuster trade to the Los Angeles Lakers sent shockwaves through the NBA. Among the most vocal about the trade was Shaquille O’Neal, who believes that while Doncic is undoubtedly a generational talent, the Lakers may have given up too much.
But beyond the trade itself, Shaq had some blunt words of advice for the Slovenian star when asked about the questions surrounding him by co-host Adam LeFkoe. O’Neal shared some advice for Doncic, that his mother had once offered him.
I would tell him… Make them shut the fk up… She [Mother Lucille] always used to say, ‘See if there’s some truth inside the criticism before you go off.
Shaq said on the podcast
Shaquille O’Neal’s message to Luka Doncic is clear: The people who are bound to critique him will keep at it. All Doncic needs to do is take in the scrutiny and take a moment to evaluate whether there is any validity to it. Shaq has long been critical of players who fail to reach their full potential due to poor conditioning or work ethic, having seen some of those criticisms during his playing career.
If there’s any truth to the concerns about the 5x All-NBA star’s fitness and durability, then this move to Los Angeles puts him in a situation where those flaws will be magnified more than ever – and Doncic needs to do everything he can to prove them wrong.
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Armaan Gupta
(413 Articles Published)