“I’m Playing for Taiwan and Dropping 85!”: Shaquille O’Neal Conveys Dwight Howard’s ‘Warning’ As Potential LeBron James-Led Team USA Squad Comes to Light

The FIBA World Cup 2023 brought life into a dying offseason. With Germany knocking out Team USA to eventually take the World Championship, a lot of former players and veterans critiqued the squad selection. However, the ‘shameful’ loss to Canada in the 3rd place game riled people up, including LeBron James. He expressed interest in leading the Team USA squad that would head out to Paris in 2024 for the Olympics. This has led to a lot of discussions lately, with Dwight Howard putting up a post for the same. As usual, Shaquille O’Neal saw what Dwight put up and shared it on his Instagram story.

Dwight Howard and LeBron James have quite a lot of history together, from being Olympic teammates on the Redeem Team to the 2009 ECF Matchup to finally winning a championship together with the Lakers in 2020. Like many others, Howard was excited too when Bron’s name came up for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but now, he wants something else as well.

Shaquille O’Neal shares Dwight Howard’s ‘warning’ for LeBron James’ Team USA

After Team USA lost to Canada on Sunday, Dwight Howard took a break from recruiting people to Taiwan and instead tried to recruit them to Team USA. However, seeing the number of stars who were ready to jump in and get their nation’s dignity back, Howard felt left out.

Seeing a potential lineup of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Draymond Green, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and Devin Booker, Howard expressed his wish to be there as well. He put up a post reacting to the squad and captioned it saying,

“I like what I see 💪🏾but don’t leave ya boy out🤔 …if ya leave me out I’m playing with Taiwan and I’m dropping 85”

 

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A post shared by Dwight Howard (@dwighthoward)

This is referring to the alleged 85-point game Dwight had in Taiwan, which raised a lot of eyebrows back home. It is not sure if Team USA selectors looked at this or not, but the post sure got the attention of Shaquille O’Neal, who shared it on his Instagram story earlier today.

Shaquille O’Neal shares Dwight Howard’s warning to TEAM USA pic.twitter.com/l6TfWkFDI1

— What are NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) September 14, 2023

While Dwight has still shown great agility at his age, it is unclear how Team USA would be looking to add someone of his age while they seek redemption.

Shaq’s ideal Team USA starting lineup to draw $222,546,678 next year

After the loss to Canada, Shaquille O’Neal shared a post that highlighted his ideal Team USA squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The starting lineup would consist of Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis. The bench is no joke either, with names like Damian Lillard, Anthony Edwards, Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, Aaron Gordon, and Paul George.

 

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A post shared by Basketball Forever (@basketballforever)

The starting lineup alone is supposed to draw $222,546,678 in the upcoming NBA season. In comparison, the entire lineup at the 2023 FIBA WC earned $204,000,000. Hopefully, adding the bigger stars would help Team USA redeem their loss.