NBA Legend Shaquille O'Neal Makes Blunt Statement About New York Knicks

Shaquille O'Neal spoke about the New York Knicks on his podcast.

Feb 13, 2024; Orlando, Florida, USA; Shaquille O'Neal during a ceremony to retire his #32 jersey at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports / Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Knicks are coming off an exciting season and they also made a considerable addition by acquiring Mikal Bridges in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets (earlier this month).

There is a lot of hype that the Knicks could be the team to make the NBA Finals out of the Eastern Conference in 2025.

However, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal is not sold on the Knicks.

He recently spoke about the team on The Big Podcast.

O'Neal: "New York is a place that's built on hype. That controls the hype. They can hype everybody else up... They're nowhere close to winning a championship. They're gonna win some games and do this, but I'm more impressed with, at the end of your career, how many championships you won."

The Knicks haven’t convinced Shaq that they can win a championship. 😳

It wouldn’t be The Big Podcast with Shaq without @TheGeneralAuto - visit online to get a quote today. pic.twitter.com/q5xLeO2Du7

— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) July 27, 2024

Many Knicks fans will probably disagree with O'Neals statement.

They are coming off a season where they were the second seed in the Eastern Conference with a 50-32 record.

In the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Knicks defeated Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers (in six games).

Shaq on the Villanova Knicks:

“New York is a place that’s built on hype, that controls the hype… they haven’t won shit, but ooh New York, New York… they’re nowhere close to winning a championship.”

(via @bigpodwithshaq) pic.twitter.com/0jKEdR4BfU

— KnicksMuse (@KnicksMuse) July 27, 2024

Despite dealing with a lot of injuries, the Knicks took the Indiana Pacers to Game 7 of the second round (before losing).

A healthy roster (with the addition of Bridges) makes them easily one of the best four teams in the Eastern Conference.

Bridges finished last year (with the Nets) averaging 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.0 steals per contest while shooting 43.6% from the field and 37.2% from the three-point range in 82 games.