Shaq has not had the greatest run on Inside the NBA so far this season. It’s been pretty tumultuous, to say the least.
He’s started beef with Donovan Mitchell, got called out as a “casual” by Christian Wood, didn’t know Pascal Siakam’s first name and couldn’t name legitimate NBA players as part of one of the show’s games.
Now, he’s being schooled on defensive coverages by his co-host Candace Parker.
Parker brought up a point about how defenses around the NBA are switching more than ever and how the Nuggets take advantage of that. And Shaq asked “why” the defenses were switching so much.
Parker explains “because everybody can shoot 3’s.” And then Shaq asks “what happened to everybody man up?” referring to the way defense used to be played in the NBA.
From there, it sort of just devolved into Parker explaining the modern game to Shaq and him giving his “back in my day” takes in response.
Candace Parker making Shaq look real dumb while talking about modern pick-n-roll basketball pic.twitter.com/TQYwVVrVmx
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 3, 2021
She had to break down the math to reason with him about why “pre-rotating” the defense just doesn’t work as well anymore.
Part 2 of Candace Parker putting Shaq in a bodybag. This time with math. https://t.co/2EZ3gvqjNg pic.twitter.com/emmI4GFP9I
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 3, 2021
You can see just how frustrated Parker was getting as explaining this. Her faces say it all.
Candace Parker trying to explain basketball to Shaquille O’Neal. pic.twitter.com/dbojfvX7Al
— Farmer Jones (@thefarmerjones) March 3, 2021
This was rough to watch. But it’s not surprising at all. This has been a trend all season long. Shaq just doesn’t seem very interested in the modern NBA and delivers his analysis accordingly.
Stuff like this does a disservice to the NBA’s fans and the players in today’s game. Shaq needs to be better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P96ldawYr5s