NBA legend and TNT analyst Shaquille O'Neal issued another wild take on Thursday's episode of the final season of Inside the NBA by making a bold prediction about this year's NBA champion after watching only one game.
While the Inside crew are prone to bold claims, particularly Shaq and Charles Barkley, the Big Aristotle's claim is maybe not as wild because his pick for the 2025 NBA champions, the Dallas Mavericks, reached the Finals last season.
“Klay [Thompson] will average 20, and the Mavs will win the Championship,” Shaq Diesel said on the show, via ClutchPoints on X, formerly Twitter.
Will the Mavericks prove Shaquille O'Neal right?
While the takes coming from Shaq and the rest of the Inside the NBA crew are hard to believe sometimes, his prediction of the Mavs becoming 2025 NBA champions at least has a leg to stand on.
However, what might sound unbelievable is Klay Thompson averaging 20 points en route to a title. Based on his Mavericks debut, Klay can still score in bunches, shooting 6-for-10 from three and finishing with 22 points.
Still, Thompson might not score that much in the next three games since he plays next to two ball-dominant guards in Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic.
Moreover, there is only one ball to go around, and the primary scoring duties will fall on their backcourt stars. With two dynamic scorers on the team, Thompson's role might be as a release valve when the defense keys in on them or if one of them falls in a slump.
They'll also need him to shoot off the catch and in transition. Realistically, with the number of touches he might get, he might average 15 to 17 points a game.
Additionally, is Thompson the missing piece for them to get over the hump after the Celtics simply outclassed the Mavericks last season? Perhaps, but most likely not. Thompson is no longer the two-way pest he once was, shooting threes with no dribbles and then guarding the opponent's best player.
What's missing?
The Mavericks have put a contending team around Luka Doncic, and he has to play like a leader if he wants to win an NBA title. He could still put up monster triple-doubles, but he also needs to address his ball-stopping tendencies and step up on defense.
Last season, the Celtics exposed Doncic as an elite but one-dimensional player. Their roster full of two-way guys hunted him relentlessly in space, putting him in every pick-and-roll action, switching him in off-ball screens leaving the paint empty.
For Shaquille O'Neal's prediction to be right and for them to become NBA champions, the Mavericks might have to look at the top of the pecking order.
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