New York Knicks legend Charles Oakley appeared on the Art Of Dialogue podcast, where he threw some shade at Shaquille O’Neal. Oakley stated he never viewed O’Neal as a tough guy and spoke about the time he confronted him for talking about him behind his back.
“He crossed the line, and me and [Michael Jordan] was together in New York,” Oakley said. “We was in the Palace Hotel and MJ went to get some coffee. I was checking out, and I seen him and I walked up to him like, ‘You know you’ve been disrespecting, right?’ Him and his uncle are together… I said, ‘You know, there was some BS you did. You crossed the line with me.'”
O’Neal denied doing anything of that sort, but Oakley, who spent 19 seasons in the NBA, wasn’t buying it. Before the situation could escalate, though, Michael Jordan, his former Chicago Bulls teammate, returned and pulled him away.
Oakley also revealed that he and O’Neal were once in the same area in Chicago, but the Hall of Famer left before he could approach him. Oakley thinks someone informed O’Neal he was around the corner, and so he chose to get out of there.
“I don’t like no sloppy stuff, and I think Shaq is sloppy a lot,” Oakley stated. “And he played that all good Samaritan, all that, but you can play the people get away with it, but I’m not letting you get away with it. And teammates, I hear different stuff. And when Kobe [Bryant] said this and that about him.
“I mean, he got a good heart, but sometime, you know how people are,” Oakley continued. “They try to laugh with you over here and stab me in the back over there.”
Oakley didn’t reveal what O’Neal did, but made it clear it was something sneaky. The 61-year-old wasn’t giving much away, and maybe O’Neal will speak about this at some point on his podcast.
Charles Oakley Wanted To Box Shaquille O’Neal
Oakley was an enforcer during his time in the NBA, and he certainly didn’t mind throwing hands. He hasn’t mellowed down too much post-retirement, and he was once asked by Shannon Sharpe who he would like to fight in a celebrity boxing match. Oakley went with O’Neal and Charles Barkley, and explained why he fancied his chances against the former.
“I know he’s about 75 pounds heavy, I’ll take him,” Oakley said. “I got pretty good hands. I’m gonna be moving though, so. But it’ll be fun, I would definitely do that with the “NBA x” player. I still got the little Bobby Weave in me.”
While O’Neal didn’t respond in this instance, he did when it came to Charlie Mack in August earlier this year. The 53-year-old agreed to fight Mack in a celebrity boxing match, but there is no word yet on when it might take place.
Getting back to Oakley, O’Neal wasn’t the only one he took some shots at during this episode. He revealed he kicked Dennis Rodman out of his restaurant once and also called out Isiah Thomas for trying to set him up by starting a fight in an airport.
