'Inside the NBA' analyst/Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal recently commented on the Detroit Pistons' success, giving credit to their head coach, "I like what Chauncey [Billups] is doing."
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The only problem is... that's not their coach.
Shaq: "I like what Chauncey [Billups] is doing. Those guys play hard."
Candace Parker: "No, I can't let this go. Who's doing it?"
Shaq: "Chauncey's the coach right?"
Lefkoe: "No."
Vince Carter: "JB Bickerstaff."
"I don't watch Detroit [Pistons]." 😭pic.twitter.com/oixeH7SDBL
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 12, 2025
In view of this, co-host Candace Parker caught Shaq's mistake, as she made him repeat his statement.
Shaq: "Chauncey's the coach right?"
Then after realizing he didn't know JB Bickerstaff was the actual coach, Shaq admitted: "I don't watch Detroit [Pistons]."
The mix-up may have been due to Billups being a former player of the Pistons, but considering he coaches a team 2,000+ miles away (Portland Trail Blazers)... it's pretty comical.
Not to mention, Shaq's job is to watch and talk basketball, so he certainly should know this.
Obviously, Pistons fans didn't take this too well, as to make matters worse, just two weeks ago Shaq said the team was "boring to watch" and mistakenly said Detroit was "4 games under .500," when in actuality (at the time) they were on a 7-game win streak and six games above .500...
[currently have a 37-29 record]
One fan wrote on X, "Shaq is a sad clown couple weeks ago he called the Pistons boring yet openly admits he doesn't watch and thinks Chauncey is the coach... Only 3 East teams have more wins. They lock in on defense, throw lobs in transition. His loss."
Shaq doubled down on his Pistons comments🙃
“Your team has been irrelevant for 20 years, you’re in Detroit, and you don’t have a star worth talking about. I’d be mad too if I lived in Detroit.” pic.twitter.com/h3Iy4kVtiY
— Legion Hoops (@AndreStans7) March 12, 2025
Other fans pointed out the fact, Shaq may be salty from his playing days, as Billups and the Pistons defeated his Lakers team in the 2004 NBA Finals (4-1).
Not to mention, Shaq admitting he doesn't watch certain teams may even be a bit hypocritical, as his TNT partner Charles Barkley just last week called out ESPN analysts (Kendrick Perkins in particular) for not talking about the small market teams enough.
“I don’t watch Detroit”.
Chuck literally just ranted about sports talk shows doing this last week and Shaq was eating it up… https://t.co/5ntNKxu7ox
— 🛸🚀 (@MOJO32_) March 12, 2025
Related: ESPN's Kendrick Perkins Responds To TNT's Charles Barkley Calling Him 'A Fool And Idiot'
