Shaquille O’Neal has offered an interesting option for the Boston Celtics, who are entering another offseason full of frustrations and questions to answer. The 17-time NBA champions looked ready to play in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season until the Miami Heat stopped them and sent them home in seven games.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are now in the eye of the storm after failing to succeed together. Shaquille O’Neal thinks the Celtics should split them up if they want to compete for titles.
“Listen, I like both of those guys and I don’t want this answer to be taken the wrong way, but the business of any business is to make money,” Shaq explained on The Big Three Podcast.
“I don’t know what the salary cap is, but obviously they are going to be over the salary cap and now I can’t get players around them. You’re going to need shooters, you’re going to need dogs, you’re going to need another veteran and you’re going to need to create a system to where it works.”
Tatum and Brown are eligible to sign supermax extensions, which would cost the Celtics $613 million in contracts. Brown is eligible to get a five-year, $295 million supermax extension this summer, while Tatum will have to wait until 2024 to sign his five-year, $318 million extension.
Under these circumstances, Shaquille O’Neal believes it’s better for the C’s to trade Brown and get a couple of pieces that can maximize the team’s chances to win it all.
“I don’t want five stars on my team,” O’Neal added to his explanation. “I want a guy that I can go to every night, I want a guy that’s going to lead, and I want three dogs, three others.
“I would prefer if they were specialists: one to be a shooter, one to be a rebounder, and one to be a fighter. I would, business-wise, break them up and use one of them to get the pieces I want. I will say Tatum is the number one, use Brown to bring in a Brown-type player, and then just do it like that.”
The Celtics have been involved in many rumors regarding their stars and it seems like this year, we could see big changes happening for the Greens. After failing to win the 2022 NBA championship against the Golden State Warriors, they were one of the candidates for this season.
The Miami Heat took them out in the Eastern Conference Finals and sparked this speculation about the Celtics’ duo’s future.
The Boston Celtics Are In A Complex Position Right Now
After this season, the Celtics are in a difficult situation. Everybody has an opinion on what they should do with their star duo. Tracy McGrady claims they need to keep Tatum and Brown on the roster if they’re serious about winning.
Jayson Tatum has made it clear he wants to extend his association with Brown and run it back next season. Rumors placing Brown in Houston haven’t stopped coming and that seems to be a likelier possibility by the day.
Tatum averaged career-highs with 30.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game, becoming the first Celtics ever to average 30 or more points per game in a season. Brown posted 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists, both helping the Celtics to win 57 games, the most since 2008, and clinching the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
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