Too soon to be talking about this upcoming season’s NBA Champ? After all, as of this writing, the regular hoops season isn’t even open yet… It starts in less than a week. That timing has not stopped our man Shaq from picking his Finals winner.
First off, O’Neal is not picking his most famous former team – the Los Angeles Lakers – to win it all. In a recent interview, when asked to pick a champion for the upcoming season, O’Neal gave a surprising response: the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavs? Really? No doubt the boys from Dallas are always a contender. But for this coming year, there’s some big question marks yet to be sorted out. In particular, the backcourt duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Irving – who has spurts of brilliance and periods of meh – joined the team last yeast just ahead of the trade deadline. Seemed like a power move, but it didn’t turn out that way. Dallas had a 5-11 record when Irving and Doncic played together, leading to a 38-44 finish for the squad. The Mavs missed the postseason for the first time in a long time. Big disappointment.
This season? The Mavs and popular owner Mark Cuban are definitely hoping that its star backcourt will produce different results this coming season. Irving re-signed with the Mavs over the summer. The hope was that extra time with the team would give him time to better connect with Doncic and perhaps, hopefully, build some chemistry.
No doubt Doncic is among the GOATs currently playing the game. If Irving can find a good way to fit in and contribute, the pair could indeed make their mark in the league’s Southwest Division.
How about Shaq’s old team, the Lakers? Maybe they’ll put O’Neal’s comments to work as “bulletin board” motivation. The Lakers could indeed be a contender out west. After all, the Lakers did make the 2023 Western Conference Finals. For this year, the team has also added some new – and maybe important – pieces for the upcoming season.
Shaq and friends pick Defensive Player of the Year – Click Here
O’Neal isn’t super optimistic about the Lakers this upcoming season. He’s not a believer in the team winning the Western Conference Finals or NBA Finals. A season like that would likely be seen as a disappointment by many folks in Los Angeles.
How about those new pieces for the Lakers? Wearing the gold and purple this year will be the likes of Gabe Vincent, Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes. Hopes are high for the 2023-24 season. Analysts are also saying there’s plenty of room for upside growth for Lakers returning players.
The season starts next week! The Lakers travel to Denver to open the season, and then meet up with the Mavs for the first time late in November. That should give fans a better idea of where the two teams stand in relation to each other.