“Nowhere Close”: Shaquille O’Neal Makes Bold Statement Over The Knicks’ Title Chances

The New York Knicks proved to be one of the best franchises in the Eastern Conference last year. Even with injuries to key players towards the end of the season, Jalen Brunson and co. made it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Now, the front office has acquired Mikal Bridges to make the roster stronger. Despite this addition, Shaquille O’Neal isn’t confident about the team being the favorites to win the championship.

Shaq has never been a huge believer in the “Villanova” New York Knicks. Hence, the addition of another former Wildcat in Bridges doesn’t sway his opinion. When speaking about Tom Thibodeau’s boys’ shot at winning the title after adding Bridges to the Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle co-led roster, Shaq instantly rejected the idea of the squad being title contenders.

He did admit that Brunson was impressive during the 2023-2024 season. Further, he also claimed that the team would “win some games”. But he wasn’t convinced about their odds of lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy.

“New York is a place that’s built on hype and a lot of cities that’s built on hype, that controls the hype, they can hype everybody else up. New York, they haven’t won, but ‘ooh, New York (hypes)’. Young fella can play, I was wrong about him, he’s impressed. But, they’re nowhere close to winning the championship. They’re going to win some games and do this, but no,” he said on The Big Podcast.

Shaq’s comments might hurt the New York Knicks’ morale. However, they would like to prove him and other critics wrong.

The team’s projected starting lineup does get a bit confusing after Bridges’ arrival, making him one of the many options to play at the forward position. However, the Knicks will hope to figure something out using the camaraderie that the Villanova players–Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and Bridges–share.

This camaraderie is so strong that Brunson, the team’s talisman, even took a significantly lesser contract extension to allow the Knicks to acquire more talent.

Brunson’s team-friendly contract helped acquire Bridges

Amidst their busy offseason, Brunson has proven to be a team-first leader. Instead of agreeing to the five-year, $269 million contract he’s expected to receive next year, Brunson agreed to a much more team-friendly four-year, $156 million deal.

This potential $113 million saved is extremely beneficial for the Knicks. This has allowed the front office to acquire Mikal Bridges. Additionally, this will also enable the Knicks to offer a suitable extension to Julius Randle on August 3^rd.

The “Nova” Knicks will have Brunson, Bridges, and Hart playing alongside Randle. They can also go to OG Anunoby in the starting lineup, making it a small-ball, rotation-heavy lineup. DiVincenzo will be a perfect piece to lead the team’s second unit. His chemistry with the likes of Precious Achiuwa and Miles McBride was already put on display during the past campaign.

The Knicks aren’t still in the same tier as the Boston Celtics. However, they have a great shot at orchestrating an upset and possibly even making it to a deeper postseason run next year.