Shaq drops wild Mavericks take if put in Luka Doncic's shoes
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As Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic gets his chance at revenge against the Dallas Mavericks, it seems like everyone in the basketball world has an opinion on how the All-NBA guard should feel.
Some believe Doncic should be out for revenge, others think the professional scorer should be all business, and others still fall somewhere in between, with the potential for the one-time Atlanta Hawks draft pick to use the matchup as fuel to optimize his performance.
But what does Shaquille O’Neal, one of the few players in NBA history who knows a thing or two about not only being the most dominant scorer in the Association but also getting moved during his prime, think about the move? How would Shaq feel if placed in Doncic’s shoes if he was forced to play a former team while his old executive Nico Harrison watches on awkwardly?
Discussing the situation on TNT, O’Neal revealed how he would respond to the situation, which is very on-brand for his unique style of on-court basketball analysis.
“I would have given him some vulgar and choice words. Yeah, I mean, I’ve always said that when we’re handling business, I want business to be handled like business,” O’neal declared. “To trade a man without his knowledge when he thought he was going to be like a Dirk Nowitzki, the face of the team, that’s not really good business. So I would have given him some vulgar and choice words, and then I would have at least gone for 50, and then, you know, we move on from there. But the fact that Luka Doncic is still laughing and clowning with his teammates, he’s not as mad as we think he is.”
Pretty intense, right? Well, O’Neal wasn’t done, as before any of his co-hosts could get a word out, “Big Diesel” went right back in, boldly declaring that key members of the Mavericks and even some cursory members like Mark Cuban and Nowitzki had to have known about the trade before he found out, and thus, are his enemies too.
“I’m not talking to nobody on that franchise because Jason Kidd, you knew, Mark Cuban, you knew, Dirk Nowitzki, you knew,” O’Neal declared. “I’m not talking to nobody in Dallas… I’ve gotta use that to fuel my anger.”
Is O’Neal on the money? In regards to Nowitski knowing about the trade, no, probably not, but the idea of players using a slight to lock in and dominate is anything but a new idea, as it’s practically a tale as old as time in the professional sporting world. If Doncic can use the trade to get in the best shape of his life, work on his defense, and really lock into the idea of winning championships in LA, then hey, maybe Shaq is right on the money: maybe Doncic will be able to use the trade as fuel and become an offensive weapon on-par with “The Big Aristotle” during his run in LA.
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