Tag: shaquille o’neal

Shaq was pushed into the Christmas tree by Kenny Smith yet again on Inside the NBA

How does Shaq keep falling (literally!) for this?

Fool him once, shame on Kenny Smith. But fool him twice, shame on Shaq.

During a segment on Thursday night’s edition of Inside the NBA on TNT, we saw them dive deep into their bag of tricks to pull out off a class prank. This included Smith tricking O’Neal into walking toward the Christmas tree on the set to grab one of his gifts.

Smith, exactly like he has in the past, then pushed the four-time NBA champion directly into the tree. O’Neal absolutely should have seen this coming considering he has fallen victim to this so many times before.

It was either a well-timed maneuver from Smith or O’Neal was in on the bit.

If the longtime NBA big man was indeed part of the joke, he probably could have had a decent career in stunt comedy or professional wresting because he took that fall fairly well.

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Shaq accidentally broke the Inside the NBA big video board by slapping it

Shaq!!

Shaquille O’Neal is a very powerful person, but he let his strength hilariously get the best of him during Tuesday night’s Inside the NBA.

During halftime of the Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks game, something caused Shaq to go and slap the big video board behind the show’s panelist desk.

Well, when he did, he accidentally broke the video board. Something malfunctioned after the slap, causing the board to glitch a big rectangle on the screen to mess up the video display.

Seriously, he broke it. When Kenny Smith went to show a highlight from the game, the entire display was off in that one rectangle. Nice going, Shaq!

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Legendary TE Rob Gronkowski reveals price for him to fight Shaq

Rob Gronkowski named his price for a boxing match with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.

Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was an attendee at the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight.

He was part of a star-studded audience that included the likes of NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. During the live event, Gronkowski and O’Neal teased a boxing match. It was hard to tell initially if the pair were serious or joking.

When appearing on the “Dudes on Dudes” podcast, Gronkowski indicated he really would fight the former NBA star in a boxing match for the right price.

“Fight night was legit man. And we’re just chilling there, I don’t know who else is going to be around,” said Gronkowski. “I sit down and Shaq’s right next to me as well. I’m like ‘Oh alright, this is going to be a great night.’ I love Shaq,  I’m already friends with Shaq.

“I actually would fight Shaq in a boxing match. Here’s the thing: I would never do the UFC stuff, no matter what the payment is, no matter how much money it is. But I would box someone if the money was right, no doubt about it. At least $12 million, minimum.”

Gronkowski measures in at 6-foot-6, and O’Neal stands at 7-foot-1. It would be quite the tale of the tape. The former Patriots tight end does have the age advantage. He is 35 years old while O’Neal is 52.

For all of the suspense that the Paul-Tyson fight lacked, a Gronkowski-O’Neal headliner could potentially be more entertaining. Hopefully, somebody comes up with the $12 million because that would make for great television.

Your move, Netflix.

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NBA ranking: The top scoring duos ever (relative to team performance)

HoopsHype ranks highest-scoring duos in league history, including LeBron and Wade, Shaq and Kobe, Durant and Westbrook, Jordan and Pippen.

Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo are combining to put up 44.75 percent of the total points scored by the Milwaukee Bucks thus far in 2024-25, which surely sounds like a lot to you.

Well, according to our research, that mark doesn’t put Lillard and Antetokounmpo even close to the Top 30 scoring duos ever, at least if we’re judging on the percentage of a team’s total points scored by a duo for a single season.

That means, for this exercise, we’re not just adding up Player A and Player B’s points per game to figure out the NBA’s top scoring duos of all time. Instead, we are adding each player’s total points scored in a season and dividing each duo’s mark by their team’s total points scored that year to find the highest percentages of a team’s total points scored by duos.

Below, check out the NBA’s top scoring duos ever.

Shaq reportedly does not have a contract for Inside the NBA before its big ESPN syndication

Would this show even work without Shaq?

Now that we know Inside the NBA will air on ESPN, the good news is that the iconic TV program will continue beyond just this season.

There is still a lot we do not know, however, and that includes whether or not Shaquille O’Neal is part of the team. While there was some talk that Charles Barkley would retire from sports media at the end of the 2024-25 season, he has since change his mind and will return to Turner Sports.

Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith will also remain with the network and will continue the show during its migration to ESPN. But as for Shaq, his future is actually uncertain.

Here is more from Jimmy Traina (via Sports Illustrated):

“Sources say O’Neal’s contract with WBD expires on July 1, 2025.

O’Neal has a slightly different deal than his three castmates because they do other things for WBD, including the NCAA tournament. Shaq’s deal is strictly for the NBA and it’s up in about eight months.

While sources say Shaq wants to remain on the show, he’s frustrated that there has been congratulations and press releases hyping that Inside the NBA is remaining the same while he is currently not under contract to be with the company next season.”

The show would simply not be the same without Shaq, whose chemistry especially with Barkley is unparalleled.

Shaq still has plenty of time to strike a deal with either Warner Brothers Discovery, ESPN, Amazon, or NBC before next season begins.

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Social media reacts to ‘Inside The NBA’ heading to ESPN, ABC next season: ‘They’ll cover the Finals, we are so back’

NBA fans got huge news on Saturday: The ‘Inside The NBA’ show will be back. Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal are heading to ESPN and ABC next season as part of an out-of-court settlement between Warner Brothers …

NBA fans got huge news on Saturday: The ‘Inside The NBA’ show will be back. Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal are heading to ESPN and ABC next season as part of an out-of-court settlement between Warner Brothers Discovery and the NBA.

Here’s how social media initially reacted:

Bill Burr roasted Shaquille O’Neal promoting stuff in SNL monologue

Bill Burr roasted Shaq.

Bill Burr’s monologue after the cold open of the latest Saturday Night Live did touch on the election, but he ventured into other subjects as stand-up comedians do.

And Shaquille O’Neal ended up being roasted.

Burr talked about waking up in the middle of the night recently and was greeted by Shaq promoting printer ink. He did a little O’Neal impression and then made jokes.

MORE SNL: Weekend Update made a Bronny James joke

“Dude, is there no end to that guy’s credibility?” Burr asked. “I thought when he was selling Buicks, that was the end of it. … It blows my mind, doesn’t he even have like a billion dollars at this point?

Watch below — the Shaq stuff starts around the 6-minute mark:

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Shaq dismantled Charles Barkley’s rant about the WNBA being petty with Caitlin Clark

Here’s why Shaq disagrees with Charles Barkley calling WNBA players “petty.”

Shaquille O’Neal has avidly supported his friend and colleague, Charles Barkley. But he disagrees with Barkley’s assessment of Caitlin Clark‘s WNBA transition.

Barkley made waves early this year when he called out the league for being “petty” towards Clark. His words eventually reached high-profile players like A’ja Wilson and even fellow rookie Angel Reese. Wilson took the high road when asked to comment at the time, but Reese seemingly called Barkley out.

The narrative that WNBA players are “jealous” of Caitlin has continued throughout the season. But Shaq isn’t quite buying it. Per Lindsay Schnell, here’s what he recently shared with USA TODAY:

“There’s envious jealousy. There’s professional jealousy,” O’Neal said. “Sure, there’s a lot of people who are professionally jealous. I am. I’m professionally jealous of a lot of people. I’m professionally jealous of Steph [Curry]. He makes $60 million. But hey, that’s life.”

“You gotta also understand that we’re not just going to give it to you because everybody else is giving it to you…Yeah, you’re great, but you ain’t that great yet. Calm down. We still got Diana Taurasi. We still got A’ja Wilson, if you’re gonna give [Caitlin] props make sure our girls that are dominating in this league get the same props.”

“Loudmouths like Chuck are talking about hating — it’s not hating…As good as Caitlin Clark is, we’ve had a lot of young ladies who have been doing good [before] and not getting props. People like props, and they want to feel good when you’re talking about [their league]…it’s not hating. Everybody has to wait their turn.”

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Shaq explained why Rudy Gobert and Ben Simmons are the worst NBA players ever by doubling down

Shaq wants these NBA players to step their game up.

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Shaquille O’Neal recently went viral for comments he made about Rudy Gobert and Ben Simmons, and he is already doubling down on it.

During a conversation with Complex Sports, the hoops legend was asked who he felt was the worst NBA player of all time. O’Neal immediately said it was Minnesota Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert.

He added that Ben Simmons, who like O’Neal played college basketball for LSU, is “another bum” as well. According to O’Neal, guys like Gobert and Simmons are ruining the pay scale for other players and he doesn’t “respect” guys like that.

Shaquille O’Neal vs. Rudy Gobert: A detailed history and timeline of their beef

O’Neal recently appeared on USA TODAY’s Sports Seriously with host Mackenzie Salmon and he was asked about the comments. Here is what he said:

“It’s also personal motivation. So now Rudy and Ben: Show me what you got. See, like, people don’t understand the things I’m saying no on TV, it’s the same things I said to my players as a leader. Young man … you’re getting paid $20 million, you ain’t doing nothing. Step your game up. The outsiders that what we know, they’re like ‘oh, he’s hating.’ No, I’m not hating. I’m telling you the truth. And if you don’t like the truth, that’s something you got to deal with. So now, it’s out there. It’s viral. So show me what you’re going to do, Rudy and Ben. Shut me up.”

Gobert responded to these comments from O’Neal, adding that he is “sad to see” O’Neal was “triggered by another man’s finances” despite all of Shaq’s personal accomplishments on and off the court.

But based on O’Neal’s comments to Salmon, it seems obvious that Shaq is simply trying to motivate Gobert to strive for greatness so that he be the best version of himself.

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Shaquille O’Neal said Angel Reese is ‘like a daughter’ to him as he attended his first Sky game this season

This is so cool to hear from Shaq about his relationship with Angel Reese.

Chicago Sky rookie forward Angel Reese is one of the WNBA’s brightest stars, and she had a major supporter in the Chicago crowd during Friday night’s game against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has a close relationship with Reese going back to the latter’s days at LSU where he became one of her mentors, and the Los Angeles Lakers alumnus spoke glowingly about Reese as he attended her first WNBA game.

“[Angel is] like a daughter to me,” O’Neal shared, via the WNBA’s Twitter (X) account.

It’s so cool to see two basketball greats strike up such an impactful mentor-mentee relationship as Shaq and Reese have, as their LSU connection seems to have developed into something much more profound and special.

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