The NBA's Shaq problem

It's all a too-cool-for-school attitude, or a hyperfocus on two teams, or yelling. So much yelling.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

---

Don Quixote; Honore Daumier; 1868

Shaquille O’Neal has been a larger than life figure in basketball and beyond most of my life. He is, for better or worse, the pre-eminent ambassador for the NBA among non-active players, and maybe the third or fourth most famous living NBA personality behind Jordan, LeBron and perhaps Steph. He has a major media role on TNT’s NBA coverage twice a week, he appears magically in every ad break on cable television, you see him in the grocery store hawking BBQ something or other. He’s larger than life and associated closely with the NBA.

And he’s on his NBA podcast trashing perhaps the best story in the NBA this season.

The conversation is about criticisms that the NBA is boring, and Adam Lefkoe brings up an example of a team that’s really exciting to watch, and Shaq dismisses that team because they aren’t championship contenders, thus reinforcing the criticism that the NBA is boring.

I presume the listenership of The Big Podcast With Shaq is not enormous, and relatively few casual sports fans who might otherwise be interested in the NBA will see it or hear it. But it’s indicative of the vibe that much of the most prominent NBA media and Shaq specifically gives off.

Lefkoe and Shaq followed up on the Pistons on Tuesday night on TNT. After acknowledging how much he likes Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart, he said he thinks “Chauncey” is doing a great job with the team. Chauncey Billups, of course, coaches the Portland Trail Blazers. Candace Parker didn’t let it slide, leading Shaq to defensively drop the act and say he doesn’t watch the Pistons.