Talk about Shaqtin’ a Fool.
Prior to Tuesday’s Knicks game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O’Neal attempted to say good things about the Knicks — who are one of the biggest surprises in the league this year.
That is mostly in part to the play of Julius Randle, who is averaging 24 points, 10 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game in his first All-Star season of his career.
But O’Neal, presumably accidentally, gave the credit to a former Knicks player from an era most fans would like to forget about during TNT’s pregame show.
“They’re playing well…[Tom] Thibodeau is doing a great job and Zach Randolph is playing MVP-caliber basketball,” he said.
Wait, what?
TNT studio host Adam Lefkoe made sure to jump in and tell O’Neal that Randolph is retired and no longer in the league. Did he mean to say Julius Randle?
“Whatever his name is,” O’Neal said.
When informed he said Zach Randolph, who hasn’t played in the NBA in three years and last played for the Knicks in 2008-09, O’Neal responded:
“Oh, well I was thinking about my boy Zach,” he said. “Z-Bo, what’s up?”
Of course, Randolph and Randle are both left-handed shooting power forwards who have similar sounding last names, so perhaps it was just a slip-up from the Hall of Famer.
Whatever the reason, Randle probably deserves a little more respect as he has the Knicks fighting for the No. 4 seed (currently in a three-way tie with the Heat and Hawks) and a chance to have a home-court series in the first round of the playoffs — something nobody expected the Knicks to do this season.
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