“Donovan Mitchell, I don’t think you can be the best player on a championship team”: Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal’s harsh criticism gets muted response from Jazz star

Lakers legend and Hall-Of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal criticized Donovan Mitchell to his face in his post-game interview last night.

One of the new adjustments of the 2020-2021 NBA season is that there aren’t any sideline reporters. This means the postgame interviews are handled by announcers. Post the Utah Jazz win against The New Orleans Pelicans, the ‘Inside the NBA’ crew were critical of Donovan Mitchell and his Jazz team.

The Jazz came back from a 16-point deficit to defeat the New Orleans Pelicans 129-118. While the match was going on, Los Angeles Lakers’ legend Shaquille O’Neal had some comments for the 24-year old All-Star.

Shaq stated that he didn’t believe that Mitchell could be the best player on a championship team. The former Laker center has recently slammed Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, too. He recently criticised the Jazz front office for giving Gobert a $200 million max extension.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Also Read: ‘People want to speak negatively about me’: Rudy Gobert responds to Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal criticizing his $205 million contract with Utah Jazz

Donovan Mitchell had an awkward post game interview with Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal

It was weird that Shaq stated this to Mitchell after he had a sensational 36-point night leading his team to the win. In a very awkward interview, Shaq also mentioned how he wanted his criticism towards him, Gobert and the Jazz as motivation. Mitchell stated that he has been receiving criticism since his rookie year. He also added that he would get better and keep doing what he did well.

Donovan Mitchell had an outstanding performance with 36 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in just 34 minutes of action. The Jazz now has the second-best record in the whole league, with 11 wins and 4 losses.

Also Read: “LeBron James and Steph Curry wanted to play”: NBA players’ hopes of going to Tokyo Olympics may be dashed as Japanese government looks likely to cancel

Mitchell has been leading the team to a great start to the season after a disappointing end to their playoffs run last season. Donovan Mitchell is averaging 23.5 points, 4.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 33.5 minutes of action per game.

Mitchell recently signed a max contract worth up to $195 million. His All-Star center, Rudy Gobert also signed a five-year, $200 million max contract. Thus to duo will have a lot of expectations to meet by the Utah Jazz franchise in the coming seasons.