“LeBron James makes $200 million, 40 million people have been laid off”: Shaquille O’Neal passionately rebuts Lakers star’s complaints with NBA for starting 2020-21 season early

Tonoy Sengupta | 29/06/2021
"LeBron James makes $200 million, 40 million people have been laid off": Shaquille O'Neal passionately rebuts Lakers star's complaints with NBA for starting 2020-21 season early

Shaquille O’Neal drops a not-so-subtle diss at LeBron James over comments made over the heavy schedule of the NBA this season. 

LeBron James is more than just an athlete. The 36-year-old has been outspoken about any issue he feels strongly about, often using his influence to bring awareness to countless issues in the past.

Among the many issues he has an eye on, the NBA schedule has been one of the more prominent ones for a while now. Mid-way through the season, the player had revealed his strong distaste for the play-in tournament.

More recently, the King has made his disapproval of the league’s busy schedule increasingly more apparent as well, blaming it for the countless injuries that have been suffered this season.

And to this, Shaquille O’Neal has a pretty interesting response. But, let’s just say James isn’t going to like the sound of it.

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“I don’t complain and make excuses”: Shaquille O’Neal subtly scoffs at LeBron James’s comments

To be fair to James here, having games every other night can put massive strain on the body. And for people whose careers are made and broken by how healthy they are, it can be incredibly concerning.

However, with the millions of money, the NBA has lost due to the pandemic, the league has to make all that money back somehow right? And the unfortunate consequence of that is an airtight schedule, that makes rest a luxury that the players aren’t afforded.

LeBron James is certainly not the only one who has raised his concerns on the matter. But, it seems that former player and Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal wants to hear none of it. Here is what he told CNBC in a recent interview.

“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… I’d play back-to-back to back-to-back to back.”

He continued passionately on the matter.

“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.”

This is clearly not a black-and-white situation. But, we are inclined to agree with Shaq on this one. Still, we do hope that there can be some compromise reached in the near future that can keep both parties happy.

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Post Edited By: Amulya Shekhar
LA Lakers LeBron James NBA NBA Play in Tournament Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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