Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are easily two of the most entertaining personalities in NBA history. They provided entertainment as MVP-level players when they were on the court, and after retirement, they provide entertainment by being hilarious on TV.
Barkley and Shaq are often at odds on Inside the NBA. This leads to quite a few arguments between the two, most funny but some serious. Regardless, nothing they could ever say on a show would hurt the years of trust they have built as coworkers and as members of the NBA brotherhood.
Even with all that being true, Shaq and Barkley don’t shy away from their confrontational personalities and use them to be even more entertaining. That is what Shaq did when he hijacked an interview he was doing in Australia by issuing threats to Barkley.
“He has American defense immunity, so which means if you were here, Charles, I will punch you right in the face. I’ll punch you right in the stomach and make you throw up all those Australian clams you had on the beach. I would kill you right now. I can’t talk to Charles like that in America but here in another country, bite you in the face Charles.”
Even the host was caught off-guard by Shaq’s sudden violent threat to Barkley, but that is just how the two NBA legends interact with each other. Charles was an NBA veteran when Shaq came into the league and took it over by storm. They both won league MVPs, but Shaq ended up having a lot more playoff success in his career.
Another topic of disagreement between the pair comes up when they’re talking about championships, and Shaq shuts down Barkley’s opinion because he’s never won a title. There are weight jabs by both men hurled at each other as well. Even when things get personal, the pair understand the value of those conversations for television and go back to being very close friends the second the cameras shut off.
