Shaquille O’Neal Talks Knicks, Wemby, Celtics, 76ers & More

Shaquille O'Neal called in to Suzy Shuster, who was in for Rich, wearing a pair of his 3D glasses and in a confessional mood. Watching the Knicks sweep the Cavaliers had taken him back, because few people know the feeling of getting swept better than he does. He joked that he sits at five career sweeps, one ahead of LeBron's four, the kind of stat only Shaq would volunteer.

That history led to a grand gesture. O'Neal said he owes the whole state and all five boroughs of New York an apology, and he named names, sending it out to Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Al Harrington, and every Knicks fan he doubted. The team, he said, is simply that good.

What sold him was the shape of it. This Knicks group reminded O'Neal of the Detroit team that beat his Lakers in his last season there, a collective with no headline superstars, just guys like Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace who played together and never gave up. He sees the same thing in New York, led by Brunson, a player who makes everyone around him better. When Cleveland adjusted in game one and doubled Brunson, O'Neal noted, Brunson kicked it out, Josh Hart went off, and Shamet got going. Karl-Anthony Towns is playing smooth, unselfish basketball, initiating from the top of the key, with OG Anunoby and Jose Alvarado adding to it.

His only worry is the calendar. The Knicks will have nine or ten days off before the Finals, and O'Neal, who admitted he loved his own rest days, warned that the mission is not accomplished. Enjoy three days away from the ball, he said, then start ramping the pace back up, the way his championship teams once did.

Then came his message to Victor Wembanyama, and it was vintage Shaq. Be super aggressive. At his size and skill, O'Neal said, aggression makes the world panic, and when defenses send extra bodies, Wembanyama can punish them by finding Keldon Johnson and the rest. O'Neal does not mind the threes because Wembanyama is a fabulous shooter, but he wants the majority of those shots close to the basket, high percentage looks that force Oklahoma City to react. Every time the Thunder put Caruso on him, O'Neal added, Wembanyama should treat it as disrespect and look to score. Stay out of foul trouble and dominate all the time, not some of the time.

O'Neal also offered a humble caveat. He would not lecture Wembanyama much, because the young big has two mentors in the same office, David Robinson and Tim Duncan, both inside-out players he is better suited to learn from than a pure power player like Shaq. He shared a tender Gregg Popovich story too, recalling how Pop, who knew him from high school, once gave a young Shaq who could not afford shoes three free pairs. He wished the coach nothing but the best, health included.

The Celtics question came from TJ. Break up the Jays or go get Giannis? O'Neal said keep them together. Boston lives and dies by the jump shot and needs better in-game adjustments, but two alpha males can coexist, he insisted, pointing to his own formula with Kobe Bryant: give Shaq the ball early, let Kobe take over the fourth, and ride it to three straight titles. The "whose team is it" noise, he said, is manufactured.

TJ's follow-up was personal. A lifelong Sixers fan who adopted the Clippers in 1999, he wanted to know whether either franchise could ever give him the Knicks feeling. O'Neal did not blink. "You don't have a shot in hell, brother," he said, advising TJ to move on with his life. TJ even floated a replacement, noting that his own godbrother, Johnny Moore, who once shared a backcourt with George Gervin, had long told him to just become a Spurs fan.

Before he left, O'Neal promised to come back before the Finals tip off. He sent his love to Suzy, hollered at TJ and the rest of the room, and signed off the way the Diesel always does, somewhere between roast and reunion.