Big trades occurred in the offseason, and many looked forward to the Inside Guys reacting to it. After Charles Barkley gave his opinion on Klay Thompson’s defection to the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA on TNT crew witnessed his debut for the team on Thursday night. The Mavs started the season with a 120-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs. 22 of those points came from Thompson, right behind the game’s highest scorer, Luka Doncic with 28. It looks like Klay heard Charles Barkley and had to prove him wrong.

Before Thompson’s debut as a Mav, Chuck commented, “Everybody likes Klay Thompson, but no player gets better with age. Let’s stop that. And he got the two bad breaks with the ACL and the Achilles.” It appears that he’s not changing his opinion about the aging Dubs or even the former Dubs.

However, Thompson was impressive and refreshing tonight, which gave Shaquille O’Neal the confidence to say, “If Klay Thompson can add 20 points a game, they can win a championship.” Now that’s how you rile up a few people.

Not only Chuck, but also Kenny “The Jet” Smith couldn’t accept that extreme declaration. Shaq’s statement resulted in all three of them talking over each other – Chuck saying “come on, man,” over and over, Kenny’s litany “no, no, no,” and Shaq emphasizing, “I said ‘if.'”

The more you tell Big Diesel he can’t say/do something, the more he will double down. So, after Kenny refused to let him backtrack after that outrageous prediction, Shaq renewed his faith in Captain Klay. “Well you know, I believe in Klay. Klay will average 20 and they will win the championship.” 

Now this firm statement the Inside Guys love. (Because they can probably hold it against him in the future.) But Shaq’s been a believer from the get-go.

Shaq’s sticking behind Klay Thompson

By most analysts’ observations, Thompson was expected to add what the Mavericks are desperately missing. The 2024 NBA finals showed the Luka-Kyrie backcourt had some flaws. As much as no one predicted the Splash Brothers breaking up, Barkley was not holding his breath regarding any former Golden State Warrior.

Thompson sat out most of the previous season because of his ACL injury. Chuck doesn’t have faith he’d be that productive going forward. “That’s the reason the Warriors wanted to move on. He’s not the same player… You factor in those two major injuries,” he said in the tip-off show.

Mavs fans and Shaq don’t agree. Weeks ago, O’Neal was positive about the trade despite how the past season went for Thompson. “I know Klay has about three or four more years left. So I know he’s gonna definitely be trying to prove something,” Shaq said during one of his charity events.

And Shaq is seeing the first signs of being spot-on. It was a different Klay Thompson on the court today. It was like reliving prime Klay’s peak defensive abilities when he forced two turnovers out of Victor Wembanyama right away. At the rate he’s going, O’Neal will be rubbing it in Chuck’s face very soon.