Home

NBA

“These dudes going to hell”: Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley & co leave NBA Fans fuming with their bold All Star predictions

Published 01/28/2023, 2:10 PM EST

Follow Us

via Imago

The NBA All-Star weekend is around 20 days away and the festivities have already begun. After the NBA Community voted for their favorites, as per traditions, the Inside the NBA cast got down to business. On Thursday’s show, they spent time announcing the starting five from each Conference. While doing so, they revealed LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo as captains. Following this, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and co-discussed their choice of reserves for the weekend. However, their predictions left the NBA fans fuming.

The members of the panel each named four choices from the Eastern Conference and three from the West. The unanimous picks in the East included the likes of Joel Embiid, Julius Randle, and Jalen Brown. On the West, everyone agreed on the likes of Damian Lillard, Ja Morant, Lauri Markkanen, and Domantas Sabonis. Meanwhile, the Inside the NBA folks faced the brunt of fans for their contentious choices.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and the Inside the NBA crew in trouble with the fans

Fans rushed to Twitter to voice out their frustrations. They made it clear that Shaq, Chuck, and co had disappointed them with their picks. Instead, they named a bunch of players who could have been chosen instead of the ones the NBA Legends picked. Fans were displeased that players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Davis were not in the pool of reserves. Considering these choices, some claimed that the panel of analysts were not doing their job sincerely. Here are some of the reactions:

The NBA All-Star Weekend this year

This All-Star weekend is very special as it will mark 30 years since the Utah Jazz hosted the first All-Star game in 1993. As per ESPN, this year’s All-Star will differ from the previous editions because the captains will pick their teams on game day. With that in mind, the East starters for this year’s All-Star weekend are Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, and Donovon Mitchell.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest NBA stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

The starting five from the West are LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Zion Williamson. For LeBron, this is his 19th All-Star weekend; tying him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most All-Star appearances.

As fans celebrate the four-time NBA Champion’s feat, some sulk because of Durant, Williamson, and Doncic being on the injury list. Hence their participation in the weekend hangs in the balance. The reserves for the weekend will be announced on February 2nd.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

WATCH THIS STORY: 10 times Chuck roasted NBA stars.

NBA All-Star weekend tips off on February 17th. Who do you think will make it to the final list of reserves? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Shriya Rajachandra

488Articles

One take at a time

Shriya Rajachandra is an NBA writer for EssentiallySports. She earned a bachelor's degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Communicative English. Shriya previously interned at The New Indian Express, but her favorite journalist, Marcus Thompson motivated her to start writing about basketball.
Show More>

Edited by:

Satagni Sikder