The Oklahoma City Thunder may be the best team in the West record-wise, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. have yet to really earn the respect of many. Count Shaquille O’Neal as one of them, with the NBA legend even recently sharing a bold Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers prediction involving the OKC franchise.
“The Lakers or the Warriors could beat the Thunder in the first round,” O’Neal confidently declared in the latest episode of NBA on TNT.
“The Lakers or the Warriors could beat the Thunder in the first round.”
— Shaq 👀
(via @NBAonTNT)pic.twitter.com/Q18W2K2p8l
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 15, 2024
That’s definitely a bold prediction from Shaquille O’Neal, and a disrespectful one at that for the Thunder.
Hopefully, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the team use it as further fuel to prove their doubters wrong. They may be a young team, but their West dominance certainly shouldn’t be overlooked.
Does Shaquille O’Neal have a point about the Thunder?
For what it’s worth, Shaquille O’Neal’s take might be prompted by the fact that the Thunder don’t have much playoff experience at all. The team last made it to the postseason in 2019-20 when they were still led by Chris Paul. An up-and-coming SGA was already with the team at the time, but they still didn’t last long and went out in the first round.
