Tag: Shaq

Shaq revealed that he called Angel Reese to praise her for avoiding the LSU-South Carolina melee

“The only thing you have to fight for is to fight for your team.”

In the aftermath of the LSU-South Carolina scuffle on Sunday, Shaquille O’Neal revealed that he thinks Angel Reese did the right thing by avoiding the action on the court.

There’s been a lot of chatter about the dust-up between South Carolina and LSU. As the story continues to unfold, Angel Reese took to social media on Sunday to clarify that she was not involved in the fourth-quarter scuffle with South Carolina because she was already injured on the previous play and that a person of her status has to think about being involved when things like that happen.

While promoting his “How to March Madness” campaign and “Tips from the Tool Shaq” content series with Home Depot, O’Neal — who’s also Reese’s mentor — recently told For The Win, that he spoke to Reese after the game, telling her she did the right thing by not being involved.

Here’s what Shaq shared with us about his conversation with Reese:

I see she’s taking a lot of flack. ‘Oh, she should have been there.’ This is not fighting. The only thing you have to fight for is to fight for your team. The game was played closely. Things like that — you don’t want them to happen. When they do happen, you just move on.

I called her and I said, ‘You did the right thing. Trust me, you did the right thing, because if would have went out there, they would have been looking for you. You and [Kamilla] Cardoso get into a shoving match. She’s already ejected. Can’t play in the next round. That would have happened to you. It would have been all your fault.’ So, she did the right thing. Kudos to her.

WATCH: Nick Foles, Jalen Hurts among those congratulating Jason Kelce on retirement

Jalen Hurts, Nick Foles, Charles Barkley, Shaq, Jim Thome, and Joel Embiid were among those who congratulated Jason Kelce on retirement

Jason Kelce ended his 13-year NFL career on Monday, announcing his retirement in an emotional press conference that featured friends, family, and teammates.

The New Heights Podcast’s social media team released an emotional tribute video with Jalen Hurts and Nick Foles, among almost 20 video messages to Kelce to celebrate the moment and his accomplishments.

A sixth-round draft pick out of the University of Cincinnati in 2011, Kelce started and played in 193 games over his 13 seasons.

Jason Kelce is the fifth center in NFL history with at least six All-Pro selections. The other four — Jim Otto, Bulldog Turner, Dermotti Dawson, and Jim Ringo — are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Inside The NBA hosts trolled Charles Barkley’s plan to give up Diet Coke by raiding his stash

How long can Charles Barkley stick to his New Year’s Resolution?

Charles Barkley had a simple answer when he was asked about his New Year’s Resolution. He said that he planned to give up Diet Coke.

Barkley has a long history of drinking the beverage, including before NBA games during his professional playing career. The former MVP has said he would have two McDonald’s fish fillet sandwiches, a large order of fries and a Diet Coke as a pre-game meal.

Now when hosting Inside The NBA on TNT, Barkley will occasionally drink Diet Coke out of a mug while on the air. So to help him reach his resolution, Barkley received a hand from his co-workers.

The hosts of Inside the NBA had enough of Barkley, who complained that water (his Diet Coke substitute) doesn’t taste like anything.

Shaquille O’Neal made his way over to Barkley’s side of the desk and raided his Diet Coke supply. He found Barkley’s stash and began opening them up, drinking them and handing them to Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.

Barkley wanted to know if his co-hosts at least felt his pain as they sipped on the soda and he then told the viewers to his their enemies close to them.

We will see how long Barkley can stick to this resolution of no Diet Coke!

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Angel Reese thanks Shaq for his support after her return to LSU basketball: ‘This too shall pass’

Angel Reese credits Shaq for reaching out to her everyday with one simple, but impactful phrase.

Shaquille O’Neal is a man of his word. He’s got nothing but love for “the GOAT.”

In October, after joining Reebok’s upper leadership, Shaq immediately picked LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese as the first athlete to sign an NIL deal with the company.

During the partnership announcement, he praised Reese: “For my first appointment in this role, it had to be the GOAT. There is no one making a bigger impact on the game right now than Angel Reese.”

It seems that those weren’t just words but possibly a reflection of how the former basketball great feels about Reese. During her recent absence from basketball, Shaq reached out to her with encouragement.

5-time NBA champ Derek Fisher to coach Crespi High School basketball team

Derek Fisher was never a star, but he was nevertheless an important part of two of the great Lakers dynasties.

Derek Fisher was never a star, but he was nevertheless an important part of two great Lakers dynasties.

From 1996-2004 and again from 2007-2011, he played for LA, totaling 13 seasons. At his best, Fisher was the starting point guard for the Shaq and Kobe teams that won three straight NBA championships from 2000-2002. Fisher is perhaps most famous for hitting a buzzer-beater to beat the Spurs during the Western Conference Semifinals in 2004.

That team eventually was stunned by the Pistons in the NBA Finals, but Fisher went on to win two more world championships with the Kobe-Pau Gasol teams of 2009-2010. Fisher eventually played a total of 20 seasons in the NBA and finally retired after the 2013-2014 season. After he was done playing, Fisher later served as the head coach of the Knicks and the WNBA’s LA Sparks.

Next up, Fisher is ready to try his hand at coaching at the high school level. According to Will Conybeare at KTLA, Fisher will be coaching at Crespi (Encino, Calif.) this coming season. Fisher said he was thankful for the opportunity in a statement, per KTLA.

““My family and I are thankful and grateful for this opportunity to join the Crespi Family… Coaching and teaching is a true passion and I look forward to continuing this focus on the next generation of young student-athletes.”

Crespi went 18-12 last season but only 1-6 within their own league.

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Shaq finally got served papers for the FTX lawsuit while covering the Heat-Celtics series in the former FTX Arena

What a wild saga this has become.

The irony is rich with this one, folks. Shaquille O’Neal had reportedly been dodging lawyers trying to serve him complaints in the FTX lawsuit after he appeared in commercials endorsing the crypto exchange company that has since gone bankrupt.

During an interview on Tuesday night with Stephen Curry, Shaq appeared to actually make a joke about the lawsuit. He congratulated Curry on winning the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice award, but then also awkwardly thanked him for “getting me in trouble,” which was both hilarious and also very cryptic.

Everyone assumed that this was in relation to the FTX lawsuit that Shaq had been dodging for months. The NBA on TNT big man previously said Curry was the only reason he began working with FTX.

What makes this even wilder is that, apparently, on the same night Shaq made this joke, he’d reportedly finally been served two complaints from the lawsuit, according to People. 

The process server actually came to Shaq while at work at Kaseya Center — ironically, formerly known as FTX arena — and served him his papers, per Pro Football Talk.

Attorney Adam Moskowitz said the interaction was recorded by the server to eliminate any ambiguity.

“These claims now are very serious and thus it is good that we can start with the merits, instead of the silly service sideshow Mr. O’Neal unfortunately created,” Moskowitz said.

The irony here is palpable. This happened after Shaq made the joke to Curry. And, to top it all off, it all happened in the former FTX Arena.

That’s just wild. Shaq had reportedly been dodging process servers for months. They’ve reportedly come to his home, his work at TNT’s studios and even his ex-wife’s home in attempts to serve him. For it to happen like this is unreal.

O’Neal isn’t the only celebrity involved in this. Curry, obviously, is also included. But Tom Brady, Larry David, Naomi Osaka and even Gisele Bündchen also all promoted the crypto exchange in commercials.

Shaq has been in tons of commercials and endorsed lots of different products since retiring. Now, after this, maybe he’ll be a bit more judicious in that process.

Did Shaquille O’Neal blame his crypto legal saga on Steph Curry while interviewing him?

Both individuals were named in a class action lawsuit filed against FTX.

Warriors superstar Stephen Curry was named the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion, and was honored on TNT’s Inside The NBA Tuesday night.

During the segment, Shaquille O’Neal offered him his congratulations and called Curry his favorite player. But he also told Curry, “Thanks for getting me in trouble. Don’t say nothing. Be quiet.”

O’Neal didn’t provide any other details as to how exactly Curry got him in trouble, and as instructed, Curry didn’t add any additional information either. For all we know, the Golden State sharpshooter and the former NBA big man found themselves in some sticky situation we’ve never heard about.

But as noted by Underdog Fantasy’s Rob Perez, Shaq and Curry do have a connection. Both were affiliated with the bankrupt company FTX, which was a celebrity-endorsed cryptocurrency giant.

At least $1 billion of client funds went “missing” at the failed firm, per Reuters. Those who lost money joined a class-action lawsuit filed against FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The lawsuit alleges over $5 billion in damages on behalf of the class.

Shaq and Curry (as well as Tom Brady, Naomi Osaka, Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, and the Warriors) were listed in the lawsuit. Here is more from Sports Illustrated:

“[The lawsuit] alleges FTX and the former CEO violated Florida law by misleading customers. The lawsuit claims these individuals, among others, ‘either controlled, promoted, assisted in, and actively participated’ in the alleged scheme where they ‘aggressively marketed’ FTX.”

As for why Shaq may blame the Golden State guard: Curry’s off-court business portfolio, SC30, signed an endorsement deal with FTX in August 2021. Curry then became a global ambassador for the company, was given an equity stake, and starred in a commercial for FTX in March 2022.

Shaq, meanwhile, was also featured in a commercial for FTX that was released in June 2022. But in December, during an interview with CNBC Make It, Shaq said that his “friendship” with Curry was the only reason he ever filmed the commercial.

Lawyers have reportedly struggled to find Shaq to serve him papers for the lawsuit.

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Shaq had some wise words for the Celtics on Inside the NBA: ‘Y’all better leave Jimmy Butler alone’

Shaq knows what the deal is with Jimmy Butler

If you weren’t watching Jimmy Butler absolutely torch Grant Williams and the Celtics then, honestly, it might be a little hard to believe what happened.

The Celtics looked like they had a tight grip on the lead. With only a few minutes left and a solid 7-point lead, Boston didn’t have to do too much to get a 1-1 series tie going into Miami.

But then, Williams got face-to-face with  Butler. And, by the end of it all, we were all left wondering exactly where the Celtics went wrong. And, obviously, it started with Williams’ trash talk. But, like, did that really just happen?

Yes, it definitely did. And Shaq actually explained how on Inside the NBA with this incredible analogy.

“I remember one time I was walking and the dog wasn’t bothering me. And I decided to mess with the dog — I messed around and got bit. Y’all better leave Jimmy Butler alone. That man wasn’t bothering nobody. Then you started talking trash to Jimmy and woke that man up.” 

Yeah, actually, that’s exactly what happened. Shaq explained it perfectly — dog analogy and all.

Hopefully, the Celtics get this message for the next game.

Shaq called Nikola Jokic by an amazing nickname during this hilarious exchange about playoff triple-doubles

Big Honey is a wild nickname.

Nikola Jokic has been making NBA history left and right for, basically, most of the last 3 seasons.

He did it again on Tuesday in the Nuggets win over the Suns. He notched the 10th playoff triple-double of his career at only 28 years old, which is pretty impressive on its own.

But what’s even more impressive is the fact that it’s the most playoff triple-doubles for a center in NBA history. He passed Wilt Chamberlain, who shockingly only had 9. Anytime you’ve passed Chamberlain in your career, you’re definitely doing something right.

The Inside the NBA crew let Jokic know about his new record on the show during a postgame interview. His response was simply “nice, thank you,” which says all you need to know about Nikola Jokic.

He also wanted to know if Shaq was also on that list with Wilt. Of course, he wasn’t. But his reason why is hilarious. He broke it down for Jokic while also hitting the big man with his ‘Big Honey’ nickname.

“Jokic: Is Shaq on that list?

Shaq: No, because I never passed, Big Honey.”

BIG. HONEY. What a response from Shaq. He’s used it before — incorrectly, albeit. But he nails it this time.

What’s more incredible here is that Shaq is so serious. Everyone else is laughing. There’s not a single chuckle coming from the Hall of Famer. He didn’t pass the ball.

Fans loved this — mostly because no one could get over the nickname.

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Shaq issued the hilarious ‘I wasn’t familiar with your game’ apology meme to Devin Booker

Shaq: ‘I’m sorry. I owe you an apology.’

The Phoenix Suns tied the series against the Denver Nuggets, 2-2, and Devin Booker is playing at the highest level of perhaps anyone in the NBA.

Booker scored 47 points (20-25 FG, 5-8 3P) when Phoenix secured their first win of the series against Denver on Friday. After the game, though, Inside the NBA studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal said that he didn’t think Booker could do it again.

Booker finished Game 4 with 36 points (14-18 FG, 3-4 3P) as well as 12 assists while recording another victory. It was another masterful performance from Booker, who is ascending to another level of stardom this postseason.

This time, after the game, Shaq felt he owed Booker an apology:

“Devin Booker, I’m sorry. I owe you an apology. I got on TV and said you would not go 20-for-25 again. You messed around and went for 14-for-18 … so, sir, I apologize. I love the way you’re playing.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the exact same energy he used when he apologized to Christian Wood after a 27-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs.

I Owe You an Apology. I Wasn't Really Familiar With Your ...

The iconic Shaq apology has become a meme format on Twitter and fans were quick to whip up a new version of the meme.

This time around,  it didn’t take long for fans to create photo edits like this one to create the same vibe.

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