If you asked most people in the world who Shaquille O’Neal is, a majority of the ones that know him would know him for his basketball. Shaq was as big as being the face of the league in the early 2000s, winning three Finals MVPs in a row to go along with a three-peat. The big man was unstoppable in his prime, except for the Hack-A-Shaq strategy that he hated, which exposed his only weakness. For all his greatness, O’Neal was a terrible free-throw shooter.
When a player can do as many things at a dominant level as Big Diesel was able to do, something like free throws shouldn’t matter. But people criticized him for it nonetheless, and it got under Shaq’s skin. And that part of him hasn’t changed much, it’s still something that stings the big man. But since his retirement, he’s done enough things in business, music, philanthropy, and other fields for it to no longer be the primary talking about him.
Shaquille O’Neal Cleverly Responded To N.O.R.E Who Joked About Making Him Shoot Free Throws
Shaquille O’Neal is a sought-after media personality at this point, one of the most listened-to people in basketball media. And he has finally arrived on the podcast scene, starting his own and making frequent appearances on others. He went on Drink Champs, which is hosted by the rapper N.O.R.E and some funny conversation ensued.
(starts at 18:31 minutes):
Shaquille O’Neal: “They used to say that Shaq can be the best guy in the world but he’s not a great free-throw shooter. Can’t be mad at that, that’s facts right?”
N.O.R.E: “Yeah we brung a ball for that, we wanna see you take some free throws right now…”
Shaquille O’Neal: “Nah! I ain’t a baller, I’m a rapper! I’m a rapper, yeah, yeah, drink to that. Drink, N.O.R.E!”
O’Neal is indeed past the point of having to prove his skill from the charity stripe. He owns numerous businesses, has albums, is a DJ, has a doctorate, and might just have a claim to be America’s most loved personality.
However, this is also an excellent example of how some things never truly leave, even the greatest to ever do it. Shaq seems to have gotten better at handling it, he deftly turned the joke around in this situation. And if O’Neal can learn to laugh at himself and take himself a little less seriously, that’s quite the example for the rest of the NBA world.
