Shaquille O’Neal admits 1 wish about Cleveland pairing with LeBron James

In the latest episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, host Adam Lefkoe asked the Hall-of-Famer about his time playing with LeBron James. O’Neal then stated that he believed that he and James could’ve contended for a title had he not gotten injured.

“I wish we would’ve met two years earlier. Cause we were actually at number one. We were [the] number one seed. Yeah. I was a role player and then Big Baby broke my hand. So I had to sit out six weeks and then when I came back I was all out of rhythm out of shape and we lost to Boston But I think if I’d have met him two years earlier, we definitely could have won. Definitely.”

O’Neal’s declaration that he & James could’ve won together had they played two seasons earlier is interesting. If O’Neal had played with James two years earlier, it would’ve been the 2007-2008 season. That season, O’Neal started the year playing for the Miami Heat only two seasons removed from winning the 2006 NBA Championship over the Dallas Mavericks.

O’Neal suffered from several injuries and clearly wasn’t the player he once was in his prime. The Heat eventually traded him to the 34-14 Phoenix Suns in February 2008, and then-Suns team president Steve Kerr spoke on the addition of O’Neal to the roster.

“We feel, with our core group here surrounding him, he doesn’t have to be a star. He can be one of the guys,” Kerr said in a press conference following the acquisition of O’Neal in February 2008.

O’Neal played his role well for the Suns, averaging 12.9 points and 10.6 rebounds in the 28 regular season games he played for the team. In the 2008 playoffs they matched up against the defending NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round, one of the primary reasons why the Suns acquired O’Neal. He averaged 15.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in the series, even having a breakout 19-point, 14-rebound performance in Game 4. But, the Suns were dispatched by the Spurs in 5 games.

Meanwhile, LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers saw postseason success behind their young, budding NBA superstar. They secured a hard-fought six-game series victory against the Washington Wizards, then pushed the Big 3 Boston Celtics to seven games before falling short as the Celtics continue to advance in their playoff run to the Eastern Conference Finals. In the Playoffs, LeBron James averaged 28.2 points per game, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.6 assists. His next most productive teammate was Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who averaged 13.1 points and 7.5 rebounds.

It’s honestly a toss-up if the 2007-2008 pairing of O’Neal and James would’ve yielded a championship, especially in an Eastern Conference that featured a Boston Celtics team in their first season with Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce. But, it’s a shame we didn’t get to see the possibility.