Shaq O'Neal Defends His Comments About Donovan Mitchell: "I Was Just Testing His Temperature..."

Shaquille O'Neal has come under fire recently for his comments about Jazz star Donovan Mitchell, in which he suggested the youngster didn't have what it takes to get to the next level.

The quote, which came during an interview with Mitchell, was highly criticized by the masses, who felt O'Neal was harsh and downright disrespectful to Mitch.

Today, O'Neal finally responded to the backlash, claiming that he was just "testing the temperature" and waiting for Spida to prove him wrong.

"Donovan and I’m sorry I hurt his feelings, but I was just testing his temperature," O'Nela said on All The Smoke podcast. 'When I say ‘hey man, I don’t know if you got what it takes’, I want him to be like ‘okay, old man watch this.’ But he’s doing that and showing us now that. But of course with the internet, people take it far. What I was saying was that you can be good, but when it come playoff time, you gotta get to the next level. We all had to go through it.”

Basically, Shaq wants Mitchell to use his words as motivation, as a chip on his shoulder. He wants Mitchell to get angry and prove him wrong on the court rather than have the fans fight for him on Twitter.

Of course, the Utah guard is more than capable of doing it, as his team has been atop the standings all year long.

But, come playoff time, things might not be so easy, and Mitchell might be glad that he's got so many doubters to prove wrong.