The Sacramento Kings are sitting in the 14th spot in the Western Conference with a 15-28 record. The Kings are also currently on a five-game losing streak heading into Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons in Detriot.
However, Kings’ minority owner Shaquille O’Neal believes that they will secure the 8th and final playoff spot in the West Conference just in time for the start of the 2019-20 playoffs. The Diesel was on the set of TNT’s Inside the NBA on Monday night and uttered the words they will make the eighth seed.
Charles Barkley, during the broadcast, shared that he has been disappointed in Shaquille O’Neal’s Sacramento Kings this season. O’Neal would reply, “Listen, they are going to make that eighth spot. It’s up there on the board.” O’Neal referring to their season prediction board.
Barkley asked O’Neal that Sacramento Kings will make the playoffs, but can’t beat the Miami Heat without Jimmy Butler?
O’Neal: Hey were are still a young team.
Barkley: You been saying that for 12 years.
O’Neal: We are better than your Suns. How about that!
Barkley: No, you are not better than my Suns.
The Kings would fall the Heat 118-113 on the road.
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Shaq is the Owner of the Sacramento Kings?
The four-time NBA Champion wasn’t a fan of the Kings during the early 2000s, so when did he become a minority owner in the team. Per Forbes’ Mike Ozanian, it occurred back on Sep 24, 2013. O’Neal purchased between 2% and 4%.
“What interested me in this deal is the new vision, the new Kings, the new everything,” said O’Neal via USA Today, who so famously deemed the Kings the “Queens” at the start of the 2002-03 season. “I’ve always wanted to be part of something like this. … It’s going to be great.”
“I wanted to find somebody to add to the ownership group who truly represented 21st-century basketball, who represented my vision of NBA 3.0, which is having an understanding of technology, wanting to build a global brand and being global in their thinking, and really being committed to having an impact in the community,” said Ranadive. “The most iconic person on the planet was Dr. O’Neal. So Mark Mastrov is good friends with Dr. O’Neal, and Dr. O’Neal and I spent a day at my house shooting hoops, hanging out with my kids, and just talking about how to create the franchise of the 21st century.
“We talked about what the forces were that were shaping the 21st century, we talked about technology, we talked about new companies that we were looking at, and based on that we came to a conclusion that we could — what my (late) friend Steve Jobs likes to say — put a dent in the universe if Dr. O’Neal became my partner.”
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Sacramento Kings’ Owner Says They Will Make Playoffs as Eighth Seed