There is no denying Shaquille O’Neal is one of the funniest basketball personalities going today. Shaq is wildly charismatic and one of the most entertaining sports figures on television. One of the reasons fans love watching and hearing from Shaq is because he isn’t afraid to look bad from time to time. And that is exactly what happened last night after the Nuggets won against the LA Clippers.
During the post-game discussion of the Denver Nuggets – LA Clippers game, Nikola Jokic joined the panel to discuss his team’s win. Shaq began spouting something in Serbian, which he later revealed to be ‘Big Honey’, a nickname he has given Jokic. But Jokic laughingly noted that Shaq was wrong in his pronunciation, and called Jokic ‘Big Soul’ (1:35 onwards).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16tCSYNBsZA
Both sides decided to have fun with it. When his mistake was pointed out to him, Shaq hilariously pointed off-camera toward a production assistant, saying that he had given him the wrong information and translation, as Jokic and the rest of the panel on TNT were laughing at the funny exchange the two legendary big-men.
Shaq has been a fan of Jokic for quite some time now and has praised his play many times. Shaq and Jokic are diametrically different players. Shaq used his size, speed, and strength to dominate the rest of the league, whereas Jokic is more a finesse player, someone who uses his shooting, passing, and basketball IQ to make everyone around him better.
Regardless of the difference between the two, there is an enormous amount of respect between them. Both Shaq and Jokic are former MVPs in the NBA. And Jokic will be hoping to replicate the kind of championship success that Shaq had during his legendary stint in the NBA. Given Jokic’s level of play over the last few years, he can easily achieve that success if he gets the right caliber of teammates around him.
