"Don't hate me" - Shaquille O'Neal dismisses Knicks as title contenders while revealing his top choice to win Eastern Conference
Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes joined Shaquille O'Neal on his show, "The Big Podcast with Shaq," to discuss basketball. The three former NBA champs talked about a plethora of topics, including the things that they are looking forward to for the 2024-25 season.
While naming his list of teams that will be tough to beat this year, Barnes named the New York Knicks. Shaq responded to Barnes by saying that while the Knicks will likely win a lot of games, they won't win the title.
He followed this up by giving his opinion on who the top Eastern Conference team will be.
"My team coming out of the East, and don't hate me, I like Milwaukee" Shaq said. "Let me tell you why. I love when Giannis (Antetokounmpo) plays mad. I love when Dame (Lillard) plays mad."
O'Neal then added that he knows the Milwaukee Bucks' star duo is mad because they were hurt during last year's playoffs. As a result, it gave the Celtics an easier path to the title. According to Shaq, had Lillard and Giannis been healthy, the Bucks would have likely won the Eastern Conference.
The Bucks were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in the opening round of last year's playoffs. Giannis Antetokounmpo missed all six games of the series due to a left calf strain. Meanwhile, Damian Lillard missed Games 4 and 5 due to an Achilles injury.
The Bucks did win Game 1 without Giannis but proceeded to lost three straight. They would win Game 5 in front of their home fans but would be eliminated from the postseason in Game 6 in Indiana.
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Shaquille O'Neal weighs in on news regarding Joel Embiid missing back-to-back games
After talking about how the Milwaukee Bucks are his favorite to win the Eastern Conference, Shaquille O'Neal turned his attention to the Philadelphia 76ers. Shaq said that he would have placed the Sixers on the same level as the Bucks this season, but news came out that Joel Embiid is planning to sit out back-to-back games.
This prompted Matt Barnes to ask him to share his thoughts on that situation. Shaq replied by questioning this decision. He mentioned that Embiid was not being defended the same way that he was because the Sixers center played on the perimeter.
Shaq then claimed that this indicated that Embiid did not want to win a championship. According to Shaq, Embiid did not have the motivation to win because he was already making money.
The four-time champ then used himself as an example. He said that while he was making a lot of money, he remained motivated because he knew he could get a bigger contract.
Embiid has already missed the Sixers' season opener on Wednesday against the Bucks. Aside from him, Paul George was also sidelined. Without their two stars, the Sixers lost by 15 (124-109).