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.
LA and Golden State are currently in contention for a Play-In spot, and should either of them make it to the playoffs as the seventh or eighth seed, they could be in line to face the Thunder in the first round. While some would say that Oklahoma City would be difficult opponents and sure-fire winners of the series, Shaq thinks otherwise. In fact, the Purple and Gold icon firmly believes the Lakers and Warriors are more than capable of pulling off an upset against the Thunder.
“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.
The Thunder have been rebuilding ever since then, although they came so close in 2022-23 when they finished as the 10th seed, failing to secure a spot through the Play-In.
In contrast, the Warriors and Lakers are battle-tested. While the Dubs have been struggling this campaign, it shouldn't be forgotten that they were the 2022 champions. As for the Purple and Gold, LeBron James and Co. reached the conference finals last year despite being the seventh seed.
Shaq definitely has a reason to believe that the Thunder could lose to those two teams should they meet in the first round. Nonetheless, it surely looks like that O'Neal isn't taking into consideration what OKC has achieved throughout the season. Not to mention that the Thunder are in the Top 5 in the NBA in both offensive and defensive ratings.
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