Shaq Fires Back At LeWhiner Over NBA Playoff Injuries, Scheduling

Speaking to CNBC this week, Shaquille O'Neal subtly blasted LeBron James and his whining about how the NBA's 2020-21 schedule led to key players going down with playoff 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,” Shaq said. “I’d play back to back to back to back to back.

“I’m not knocking what anybody said, but me personally, I don’t complain and make excuses, because real people are working their tail off and all we gotta do is train two hours a day and then play a game for two hours at night and make a lot of money ... So my thought process is a little different.”

Shaq's comments were clearly directed at June 16 tweets where LeWhiner, who should be player-commissioner, said the league didn't want to listen to him about the start of the season -- it occurred 72 days after the 2020 NBA Finals -- and that led to star players breaking down with injuries.

So why didn't the NBA stars just fake injuries and sit out 3-4 weeks to rest up and be ready for the playoffs? The Spurs were fined $25,000 for resting players in April and didn't blink an eye. The Raptors were fined $25k for resting players and sure didn't mind the fine.

In typical LeWhiner fashion, he spouted off about the injuries, but the NBA -- which typically bends a knee to the future commissioner -- fired back as well.