Shaquille O’Neal says it every time – he wouldn’t have been able to lead the Lakers and the Heat to championships if not for his teammates. When we think Shaq’s teammates, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade are the first names that pop into our heads. He’s talking about his most underrated teammates though. Now that he’s back on TNT Tuesdays, he’s dipped into his bag of examples from his own career to give one team a lesson. With Tobias Harris coming in clutch for the 76ers lately, Shaq expects him to be as good as some legends who played alongside Big Diesel.

“I’ve said this and I’ll say it all the time. I don’t win championships without Rick Fox, James Posey, Big Shot Bob. Those guys stepped up on players.” This isn’t the first time O’Neal has credited Rick Fox and Robert Horry for his three rings with the Los Angeles Lakers and James Posey for his fourth championship with the Miami Heat. Shaq uses them as the standard current players need to measure up to.

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Tobias Harris is living up to that. After putting up 37 points, his highest output as a Sixer, against the Sacramento Kings (Shaq and Lakers’ biggest nemesis) O’Neal sees the Sixers playoffs chances higher with him and Joel Embiid. Shaq apparently told Harris during their recent meeting in Houston, “Whatever you’re averaging now, I need plus six in the playoffs.” 

Harris was joking in the offseason that Philadelphia might trade him for a Crumbl Cookie. That was before the James Harden saga. Now Shaq is giving Tobi the boost to be what the Sixers need. “If I can get him to step up three out of seven games, four out of seven games, Tobias Harris is that third guy consistently every game, they definitely have a shot at winning the championship.”

Like the fans in the arena chanting “Tobi” hoping he’d make it to 40, Shaq declared, “He’s the key. As much as we talk about Embiid and Maxey, Tobias Harris is that guy.”   

O’Neal has applied this scenario for another team and other players too recently.

Lakers vs Lakers

Shaquille O’Neal was on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast to discuss the dilemmas plaguing the current Lakers. Many analysts have pointed out the Lakers are only as good as LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Shaq and Smith sounded off on that dependency.

O’Neal brought up his old teammates, Derek Fisher and Rick Fox. Both champions, “used to be p***ed off if they missed open shots they knew had to knock those down,” according to Shaq. He felt that others like Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, and Rui Hachimura need to be stop leaving openings the way Fisher, Fox, and Horry wouldn’t have allowed.

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Shaq’s motivation tactics are unorthodox as usual. Do you agree with him that Tobias Harris needs to do more?

Riches of $7.7 Billion Industry Fail to Tempt Shaquille O’Neal in His Chase for Unique Title in NFL History