“I Only Pay Attention to Champions”: Shaquille O’Neal Hits Back at Pistons Fan Page Mocking His Flip-Flopping Takes

Shaquille O’Neal exposed his lack of basketball knowledge with his recent flurry of takes regarding the Pistons. His negative comments along with misinformation about the team caused an uproar from fans. The four-time NBA champion’s feud with the Pistons isn’t over as he mocked a Pistons fan page.

As a result, fans expressed their outrage towards O’Neal’s lack of expertise, considering his enormous platform. It originally started when O’Neal called the Pistons “boring” on The Big Podcast with Shaq.

“[The Pistons are] boring too,” O’Neal said. “Bro, those motherf*****s are four games under .500.” Shaq’s co-host Adam Lefkoe pushed back on O’Neal’s take, stating the Pistons’ seven-game win streak at the time. He quickly shifted his tune, revolving around the Pistons on Inside The NBA the following day.

 

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“I like what Chauncey [Billups] is doing,” Shaq proclaimed. Candace Parker couldn’t let O’Neal get away with it and confronted the Hall-of-Fame big man. He proceeded to say, “First of all, I don’t watch Detroit.” 

Aside from Billups playing for the Pistons between 2002 to 2009, he has no affiliation to the team. Billups currently serves as the head coach of the Trail Blazers, which is the only team he has coached. Instead of O’Neal fully accepting his mistake, he went onto berate a Pistons fan page with a lengthy comment.

“I only pay attention to champions,” O’Neal declared. I’m not a regular earthling, all you got is your lil Instagram page. Don’t worry about this first ballot Hall-of-Famer, get your followers up.”

Shaq’s response to Detroit Pistons fans

“I only pay attention to champions I’m not a regular season earthling” pic.twitter.com/YXwrAoKnha

— Pistons Talk (@Pistons__Talk) March 28, 2025

O’Neal’s response came as a surprise since the post came out on March 12. Shaq gave the account recognition on March 27, two weeks after the situation had settled. His emotional outburst didn’t sit well with Pistons fans.

One user doesn’t understand why O’Neal continues to work in NBA coverage if he won’t cover every spot. They posted, “Why do NBA coverage then? He’s literally admitting to purposely not covering certain teams.”

Another user shared the same sentiment, wishing they could get paid for the same amount of work that Shaq does. They posted, “That’s kinda his job? To know more than 2 teams to talk about? I wish I could only do 3% of my job and make statements like this.”

Fans didn’t react kindly to O’Neal’s lack of accountability for his comments. However, this isn’t a new development from the 7-foot-1 big man. Safe to say, O’Neal won’t be in attendance for any of TNT’s coverage of Pistons home playoff games.