NBA players have been smoking weed for decades, but Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal has avoided using the drug all these years. O’Neal’s refusal to smoke weed has actually been a source of some frustration for Adam Lefkoe, the co-host of The Big Podcast with Shaq.
So, when actor and comedian George Lopez appeared on the latest episode of the podcast, LefKoe wanted him to tell O’Neal what he is missing out on.
“The best days of his life,” Lopez said.
Lopez also made it clear he does admire the fact that O’Neal stays away from marijuana. Lefkoe wondered when he came closest to smoking weed and if rapper Snoop Dogg ever tried to get him to do it.
“He did tell me when I’m ready, come see him,” O’Neal said.
That day is unlikely to ever come. Lefkoe asked if the fact that O’Neal’s late stepfather, Philip Arthur Harrison, was a disciplinarian has anything to do with it, and it turns out it does.
“Yeah,” O’Neal said. “Between me and you, I never really liked the smell… Went away from that, started doing cigars. Hate the smell of cigars. And then I got introduced to hookah.”
Lopez hilariously stated he would get the best Mexican scientists to work on producing better-smelling weed. He claimed to have heard about cocaine that smelled like strawberries, much to O’Neal’s amusement. It would probably take something like that.
Speaking of cocaine, Harrison was keen on O’Neal staying away from it. Following Len Bias’ passing due to an overdose in 1986, he got that message across to his stepson loud and clear. O’Neal revealed Harrison would punish him anytime an athlete did anything stupid, and the worst and last beating he got was after Bias’ death. He told the young boy he’d kill him if he ever used cocaine.
Harrison also made O’Neal stay away from beer after catching him drinking when he was 13. He made him drink a 12-pack at one go, and he hasn’t had the urge to drink since.
You’d imagine Harrison, who passed away in 2013, wouldn’t have been too keen on O’Neal smoking hookah, either. That’s one thing the 54-year-old isn’t giving up, though. O’Neal once hilariously called it one of his side chicks. He loves it too much.
While O’Neal doesn’t smoke weed, it doesn’t mean he never saw value in it. He and a man named Jermone Crawford invested $150,000 in a weed business called Viceroy LLC in 2016, but it went nowhere.
According to TMZ, O’Neal sued the company for more than $1 million in 2021. It’s unclear if this court battle has been resolved. It was a rare bad investment from a man who has put together quite the business empire.
