Shaquille O’Neal has high praise for many players in the modern NBA, especially one of his favorite players, Stephen Curry. However, Shaq has always been brutally honest about his inhibitions with the play of modern big men. Rudy Gobert, Dwight Howard and many others have all been caught in his scathing rants. Nevertheless, O’Neal hopes that his recent rants about Joel Embiid can get the former MVP fired up.
After Joel Embiid’s disappointing season debut against the New York Knicks, Shaquille O’Neal put the Philadelphia 76ers big man on blast with a scathing rant. However, as he appeared on The Dan Patrick Show, the Big Diesel clarified his intentions with his criticism.
While O’Neal is aware that his criticism was harsh, he hopes that it can light a fire inside Joel Embiid to get out of his slump.
I just see a lot of potential in him, and I hope he gets upset with what I’m saying and turns it up. But we, as fans, know what we see. We can look in the eye of a person and see if they want it. And something’s going on with him. I don’t know if he’s hurt or injured, but he doesn’t look like he wants it.
Shaquille O’Neal on Joel Embiid
.@Shaq discusses his criticism of Joel Embiid and explains why he thinks Nikola Jokic is the best big man in the game pic.twitter.com/mmpYVd1ZDf
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) November 14, 2024
Shaquille O’Neal’s major gripe with Joel Embiid is the Sixers stars’ lack of availability. Even after securing a nearly $200 million contract extension, Embiid missed the first 10 games of the season dealing with rehab for a knee injury.
The Big Aristotle also expressed his displeasure at Joel Embiid’s unenthusiastic return to the court on Tuesday night. Embiid recorded just 13 points on 2-11 shooting from the field in a big loss to the Knicks. He proceeded to miss the next game against the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers due to load management concerns with his injury.
Can Joel Embiid turn things around for the struggling 76ers?
The Philadelphia 76ers have been extremely cautious with managing Joel Embiid’s injury concerns. However, with the entire ‘Big Three’ of the Sixers dealing with injury concerns, the team faces a dim future.
The Sixers have started the season with a measly 2-9 record so far. Joel Embiid has missed a majority of these games. Co-stars Tyrese Maxey and Paul George have missed time with their own injuries as well. However, if the Sixers want to keep their hopes of a championship run alive, their first goal will be to make the playoffs.
After their dreadful start, the Sixers stand at the 14th seed in the Eastern Conference. While it’s still early in the season, going down this trajectory could see the team missing the playoffs in their first season of assembling their famed Big Three. As Joel Embiid returns to health, the Sixers will need to deal with their first obstacle to turn the season around on Friday, when they take on the Orlando Magic in the NBA Cup.
