Shaquille O’Neal made a lot of headlines when he went after Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell. Amid a magical season for the guard and his team, O’Neal doubted his capacity to lead the squad to the promised land.
Back in January, Shaq made some eyebrow-raising comments about Mitchell’s game, taking a jab at the shooting guard on live TV. After this moment, everybody blasted the 4x NBA champions for trying to bring down the talented player.
A couple of months later, after Mitchell took the Jazz to have the league-best record, O’Neal recalled the incident, explaining the motives behind those questionable remarks. Talking on the FULL SEND PODCAST, the Lakers legend said (23:15):
“I said something about Donovan Mitchell one time and everybody started bashing me. But then I listen to what I’m saying. What I am saying is, I play with Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, D-Wade, LeBron James, Steve Nash. If you ain’t on that level, I don’t know what great is.”
“Really good player, on his way. But to try to crown him as the next. Then I said okay, if he is crowned the next, where is he ranked right now. And, people saying five, six, seven. I said ‘I don’t know where you’ll come from but being 5th is not acceptable to me.’ If I am not number one or number two don’t bring my name up, ever.”
The Big Diesel has been involved in these incidents for some time now. He had beef with Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee, Rudy Gobert, and more. If you wondered why O’Neal did this, he’s just trying to push players.
Back in April, he said he was testing Mitchell’s temperature with his comments. Now he’s doubled down on that, revealing he’s trying to help players reach the next level with the criticism.
After a disappointing second-round exit last campaign, Mitchell has a big challenge next season. The Jazz are expected to be one of the best teams in the West. Time will tell if Spida can get the job done or if he’ll earn more criticism.
