Shaquille O’Neal has come under fire on social media for making an embarrassing mistake on Tuesday’s episode of Inside the NBA. When speaking about the Detroit Pistons, O’Neal announced to the world that he didn’t even know J.B. Bickerstaff is their head coach, as he praised Chauncey Billups for the job he’s done in Detroit.
“I like what Chauncey’s doing,” O’Neal said. “Those guys play hard. My favorite player on that team is Isaiah Stewart – big body, hard guy. Like to knock people out.”
Candace Parker interrupted O’Neal before he could go on any further and asked if he actually said Chauncey. The 53-year-old then asked the crew for confirmation that Billups is the head coach and was told it’s Bickerstaff. An embarrassed O’Neal then tried to save face, but he knew the damage had been done.
“J. B. Bickerstaff, that’s what I meant,” O’Neal stated. “… First of all, I don’t watch Detroit. How about that? … I messed up… I made a mistake.”
Here's Shaq congratulating Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups on turning the Detroit Pistons around. 👍 pic.twitter.com/roe6qnGaKE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 12, 2025
This was quite frankly embarrassing. It’s understandable if O’Neal gets the team wrong when it comes to some little-known role player, but a head coach? There are only 30 of them in the NBA, and for him to have no idea that Bickerstaff is with the Pistons and Billups is with the Portland Trail Blazers is ridiculous.
O’Neal also proudly admitted he doesn’t watch the 37-29 Pistons play, so everything he said about them in the segment wasn’t even worth listening to. Great job promoting the product right there, too, Shaq.
This was also the second time this week that O’Neal had disrespected the Pistons and gotten something wrong about them. On an episode of the Big Podcast with Shaq, he got into a bit of a tense exchange with his co-host, Adam Lefkoe.
Adam Lefkoe: “When I hear people say, ‘Oh, the NBA is boring.’ I go, you’re watching the same teams, because if you put on the Detroit Pistons right now.”
Shaquille O’Neal: “Bro, stop it. They’re boring too.”
Lefkoe: “No.”
O’Neal: “Bro, the motherf****** are four games under .500.”
Lefkoe: “They’ve won seven in a row.”
O’Neal: “Whoopie freaking do.”
Lefkoe: “And I don’t think they’re four games under .500.”
O’Neal: “Alright, what are they?”
Lefkoe: “I’m gonna look it up right now… They’re six games over .500. They’ve won seven in a row. Cade Cunningham is balling.
O’Neal: “You wanna brag about a team that’s 32-26?”
It’s quite interesting that O’Neal calls the Pistons boring when he hasn’t even seen them play. It’s a shame that instead of applauding the team for finally turning things around, he chose to dismiss whatever they’ve done this season. The NBA needs the big talking heads to promote the game, but they don’t have much interest in doing so.
O’Neal also came under fire from NBA fans on the night for talking down on Zion Williamson after he recorded a triple-double. No one’s asking the Hall of Famer to roll out the red carpet for today’s players, but some positivity won’t hurt. O’Neal won’t change his ways, though, and expect him to keep acting in this manner moving forward.
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