Shaquille O’Neal is firing back at Lebron James over his criticism of the NBA and why there have been so many injuries this season.
The Lakers star said that the schedule was at fault for the plethora of high-profile injuries this year, a claim the league has disputed.
“They all didn’t wanna listen to me about the start of the season. I knew exactly what would happen … These injuries isn’t just “PART OF THE GAME”. It’s the lack of PURE RIM REST,” James said in a series of tweets on June 16.
In an interview with CNBC, the former Los Angeles Lakers star and TNT broadcaster said he thinks players need to stop complaining about the busy playing schedule.
“When you’re living in a world where 40 million people have been laid off and I’m making $200 million, you won’t get no complaining from me,” O’Neal said. “I’d play back to back to back to back to back,” he added.
“I’m not knocking what anybody said, but me personally, I don’t complain and make excuses because real people are working their tail off and all we gotta do is train two hours a day, and then play a game for two hours at night and make a lot of money…So my thought process is a little different.”
James’ Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs by the Phoenix Suns.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NBA stories via Google! Follow Us
“This is the first time in a while that juggernauts have been gone,” O’Neal said.
James, 36, missed 26 of 28 games in the second half of the regular season due to an ankle injury, and teammate Anthony Davis battled a series of injuries, including in the first round matchup against the Suns.
