Shaquille O’Neal called out LeBron James this week after the Los Angeles Lakers player faulted the NBA for starting the season too soon, in his view causing a spate of players’ injuries.
“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,” O’Neal, a former Lakers star himself, told CNBC on Tuesday. “I’d play back to back to back to back to back.”
The normal NBA season ends in June and starts up again in October, allowing for four months of what James called “rim rest,” but because of last year’s coronavirus pandemic, the season ended in October and the 2020-21 season started two months later in December.
“They all didn’t wanna listen to me about the start of the season. I knew exactly what would happen,” James wrote last month in a series of tweets. “I only wanted to protect the well being of the players which ultimately is the PRODUCT & BENEFIT of OUR GAME! These injuries isn’t just “PART OF THE GAME”. It’s the lack of PURE.”
NBA SWATS LEBRON JAMES’ NOTION SEASON SAW UPTICK IN INJURIES: ‘RATES WERE VIRTUALLY THE SAME’
He continued, “8, possibly 9 ALL-STARS has missed Playoff games(most in league history). This is the best time of the year for our league and fans but missing a ton of our fav players. It’s insane. If there’s one person that know about the body and how it works all year round it’s ME!”