Opening night for most NBA teams saw the Minnesota Timberwolves scoring a huge victory in LaMelo Ball’s first game for the team. However, NBA pundit Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t impressed with the young guard. Ball appeared on Inside the NBA and received questions about the upcoming season. Shaq was unhappy when LaMelo said he doesn’t have high expectations to contend and doesn’t think about bigger long-term goals.
O’Neal had the following negative response about Ball after the interview:
“His mindset needs to change. I was kind of baffled by that answer. At least say playoffs or something. Expectations for them are to win a championship. You have a guy that, if he plays well, will be talked about as MVP (Anthony Edwards), and if everything goes well with their role players and Rudy Gobert has one or two breakout games like he had last year, then they have a chance to make some noise in the West. But for that, he needs to change his mindset.”
The belief of Shaq is that Ball should be thinking about how to contribute to winning basketball for title contention. LaMelo’s answer rubbed O’Neal the wrong way since he understands the challenge of joining a new team and having pressure to contend. The NBA media put immense pressure on Shaq to win titles once he joined the Los Angeles Lakers.
What Exactly LaMelo Ball Said To Annoy Shaq
Ernie Johnson was the one to ask Ball about his hopes for the season and how he feels about playing for a title contender for the first time. LaMelo’s entire NBA career before now has come with the Charlotte Hornets where they never made the playoffs, let alone contended for a title. Ball had the following response to Johnson’s question to make Shaq rant about him:
“I don’t really throw expectations on nothing. I just go out there and give it my all, try to be the best we can be, and let that be where it’s at.”
LaMelo’s answer represents a new mindset of younger talents who only focus on things they can control. Minnesota needs Ball to be the ideal point guard and run an offense with Edwards, Gobert, and Jaden McDaniels as his top teammates. O’Neal felt he was ducking responsibility and fearing pressure by giving his answer.
LaMelo Ball Answered Shaq With Opening Night Game
Minnesota has arguably delivered the best team performance of both slates of opening night games so far. A dominant victory over the Miami Heat saw Edwards and Ball leading the Timberwolves to win by 25 ponts. Ball played a good game of putting up 21 points and 6 assists to prove he can help this team win. More importantly, LaMelo understood he had to defer to Edwards to give him the ball. Edwards finished with 45 points and looked like an MVP candidate on night one. The Timberwolves need the best out of every rotation player to challenge the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs at the top of the West. Ball can shut up Shaq and all other critics by playing like he did tonight.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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