The New York Knicks are the latest ones that Shaquille O’Neal refuses to give credit to.
O’Neal, the legendary Basketball Hall of Famer, spoke this week on the latest episode of his “The Big Podcast with Shaq.” During the episode, O’Neal addressed the Knicks’ championship victory and said that he believes they got lucky in winning it all.
“If you don’t get that tip [by OG Anunoby in Game 4 of the NBA Finals] it’s over,” said O’Neal. “You don’t win that game. If dumba– [San Antonio Spurs guard De’Aaron] Fox don’t f–ing try to score with eight seconds left … That’s two instances right there.
“If [the Spurs] don’t let the 29-point lead go,” O’Neal added. “I’m just saying, a little bit of luck in that … Y’all won, but you had a lot of luck.”
O’Neal was referencing the San Antonio star Fox’s last-second blunder in Game 4 of the Finals that opened the door for OG Anunoby’s game-winning tip-in to cap off a 29-point collapse by the Spurs to the Knicks. But of course, all three of those things that O’Neal mentioned happened in one single game. He did not account for the fact that New York beat San Antonio in five games and also had 12 double-digit wins overall in the 2026 playoffs.
Every NBA championship is rooted (to some degree) in luck, whether it be injury luck, matchup luck, or just a friendly bounce of the ball or two that ends up swinging a series. But the Knicks, in rallying from multiple late deficits to the Spurs in the Finals and in walloping every single Eastern Conference opponent prior to that, proved that they were far more good than lucky. Still, this is just par for the course for O’Neal, who has consistently proven to be one of the biggest haters in sports media today.
