Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal recently called out Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Mike Gansey for having former second-round pick Emoni Bates in the G League.
To the Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager,
What the f**k are you doing? pic.twitter.com/Hbf8MNPRPa
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) June 8, 2025
“To the Cleveland Cavaliers general manager, what the f— are you doing?” O’Neal said. “Why is Emoni Bates in the f—— G League? What the f— is going on? This motherf—– can play. The last game you put him in, he had what, seven 3s? Don’t you think you need that for a f—— championship?”
Bates, 21, was a second-round pick by the Cavs in the 2023 NBA Draft, but he has played sparingly at the NBA level.
He actually responded to O’Neal’s take on the social media platform X (formerly known at Twitter), thanking the legendary center for showing him love.
all love OG @SHAQ appreciate the love 💯work gone show 💯 https://t.co/DTVEFopyb1
— Emoni Bates (@BatesEmoni) June 9, 2025
In the 2024-25 season, Bates appeared in just 10 NBA games for the Cavs and averaged 3.7 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game while shooting 34.2 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Bates played in 15 games as a rookie, and he shot 30.6 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from beyond the arc.
While the Cavs could use even more shooting on their already impressive roster, it does seem like O’Neal isn’t giving Gansey enough credit for the team that he’s already built.
The Cavs won 64 games in the 2024-25 regular season, finishing with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Gansey added forward De’Andre Hunter at the trade deadline to give the team more wing defense and perimeter shooting.
In addition to that, players like Sam Merrill, Ty Jerome, Dean Wade, Max Strus and others had impactful roles in the rotation for Cleveland in the 2024-25 season. While it’s possible that Bates could have also helped the Cavs, he’s not the only young player that didn’t get much playing time for Cleveland.
Jaylon Tyson – the Cavs’ first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft – only appeared in 47 games in the 2024-25 regular season and played less than 10 minutes per game.
It’s possible that Bates could be a rotation player for the Cavs in the future, but Cleveland ran into injury issues and effectiveness in the playoffs that ended the squad’s season in the second round.
Even if Bates had played a bigger role, it’s hard to see him turning around Cleveland’s playoff run given how little he’s shown at the NBA level so far in his career.
