Shaquille O'Neal: NBA Finals pick, SGA, OKC, Indiana, TNT's farewell to Inside the NBA, how he really feels about Charles Barkley, Netflix documentary, Reebok, Allen Iverson, turning envy into motivation & one thing he's chasing before retirement

"If they ain't hating on you, then you aren't doing something right." Shaquille O'Neal One of our favorite people and top Pivot Podcast guest returns as we welcome a man who needs no introduction, our friend, the one and only Shaquille O'Neal. Sitting with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor- Shaq jumps right into the chaos and fun of the world we know, the dynamic of life after sports, shares some inside stories, offers his thoughts on current NBA, the mindset shift it took to build a business empire, give back to communities, and discover his true purpose. From the end of TNT's Inside the NBA show to his relationship with Charles Barkley, Shaq says how he avoids emotions around changes he can't control and admits the two occasions he cried, losing his sister to cancer and losing his brother Kobe Bryant. He expounds on questions surrounding his relationship with Kobe and how he regrets not reaching out sooner as he explains the tough lesson in the reality that once someone is gone, they are gone forever with no redos or second chances. Shaq continues telling Ryan, Channing and Fred that we have to approach life with open hearts to always forgive and be the bigger person even when it's most difficult. He reveals what's been the glue to his bond with Barkley over the years and the why that we never knew existed. The icon's larger than life personality comes through as the guys talk about what really happens after the final buzzer sounds as Shaq keeps it real speaking on his era of players vs now, breaks down the NBA finals between Oklahoma City and Indiana, dismisses the small market vs large market not making entertaining basketball, weighs in on the true GOAT conversation, and who he sees as the current player who wears the crown as the league's face, and best ways of navigating identity outside of the NBA. From owning businesses to being a father and mentor, Shaq reveals what keeps motivating him to keep making big moves, and it's not just money...this conversation is full of laughs, locker room talk and true fellowship as we really cover so many aspects of life and do it in a pivotal way where you are laughing one moment and in deep thought the next. Drop your thoughts in the comments and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more inspiring convos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior-like beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  I just, man, I yearn a lot. And I feel like your bladder must be coarse. Like, my bladder's small. I pee, I pee, it's like, phew.

• 0:42Ryan Clark?

  It just all come out at one time? You pee like diarrhea? Yeah. Yeah, I pee like a sneeze. You can't control it.

• 0:57Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Chad, folks be in the bathroom talking about, bless you.

• 1:03Ryan Clark?

  Aw, look at him.

• 1:04Shaquille O'Neal?

  With my son, here and, uh, Jayden.

• 1:07Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:07Channing Crowder?

  I was one of that [BLEEP] my daddy.

• 1:09Shaquille O'Neal?

  What's up?

• 1:10Ryan Clark?

  For sure.

• 1:12Shaquille O'Neal?

  Charlie, you good?

• 1:13Ryan Clark?

  When you don't get around him enough, you forget how big the joke really is.

• 1:18Shaquille O'Neal?

  Nice to see you again.

• 1:19Ryan Clark?

  Nah, he set it up, now we got him. What you get from Starbucks? What's your Starbucks order?

• 1:22Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, little coffee cake.

• 1:24Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, Shaq, nobody little boy me no more.

• 1:26Shaquille O'Neal?

  Nobody what?

• 1:27Ryan Clark?

  Because when you came on the show, you put your arm on his shoulder for the picture?

• 1:30Channing Crowder?

  Your forearm on my head?

• 1:31Shaquille O'Neal?

  No, man.

• 1:32Channing Crowder?

  Ain't nobody little boy me no more. I put my foot down moving forward.

• 1:36Shaquille O'Neal?

  I'm jealous of you.

• 1:37Ryan Clark?

  Why you jealous of me?

• 1:38Shaquille O'Neal?

  I wish I could've said what you said. You said it right.

• 1:43Ryan Clark?

  If you would've said it, you wouldn't have got as much backlash as me.

• 1:46Shaquille O'Neal?

  You didn't get backlash. There's no such thing as backlash. How many times I gotta tell you that?

• 1:50Ryan Clark?

  That's true.

• 1:51Shaquille O'Neal?

  There's no such thing as no [BLEEP] backlash. You said it right.

• 2:14Ryan Clark?

  Hey, man. We are excited, bro, part two. And I appreciate you, first off, always coming through for me, for us. But the little times you holler at me throughout the year when things are going on, just let me know, like, you got my back, you paying attention, keep going. I appreciate that.

• 2:31Shaquille O'Neal?

  I commend you guys for being professional and being top of the line. Can I be ghetto for a second?

• 2:36Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 2:36Shaquille O'Neal?

  I like you, I like you, I don't [bleep] with this [bleep].

• 2:40Ryan Clark?

  Still, part two is still... You over me every time!

• 2:44Shaquille O'Neal?

  Nah, good, because you said I tried to little boy you last time. I ain't trying to little boy, but I'm a little boy you now. Alright, ghetto off. But anyway, like I was saying...

• 2:52Ryan Clark?

  Hey, and that's a pivot. Freddie T, Channing Crowder, I'm RC. Pivot fam, appreciate y'all pivoting with us. I want to talk about something different, though. I'm not gonna let you, since we pulled back off of ghetto. You were crying recently when Ernie...

• 3:07Shaquille O'Neal?

  No, I wasn't crying. First of all, I don't, I don't, I don't have emotions. I was raised by a drill, so I don't have, so I have allergies and my eye leaks a lot. It's like, right now, it's leaking, so I was going like this. So, of course, when you have that moment, it makes you look emotional. I don't get emotional. Am I sad that the show is leaving? Yes, but I've been programmed to do something new after every four years. So, I've been with Inside the NBA 12 years, that's three military terms. And now it's just time to do something else. But if you look at the reality of the situation, we all resigned. We're gonna be there. We're shooting in the same place, everybody's coming back. The name and the title is gonna be different.

• 3:50Shaquille O'Neal?

  Only thing I'm concerned with is, we're going on a bigger network. Will they be able to handle, handle our shenanigans? Can y'all talk about fat women in San Antonio? Can, you know, can we talk about people's hairlines and, you know, make them cut their hair? That's the only thing I'm worried about, but it's a new beginning. It's a new challenge, and I'm hoping it's something that we can step up to. I don't, I don't, I was, I was raised, I'm not allowed to have emotions. I only cried twice, three times. Grandmother's death, father's death, and sister's death. And not because I was sad, because I forgot to tell them thank you. I got to fulfill my grandmother's favorite wish. Like being a high level juvenile delinquent.

• 4:34Shaquille O'Neal?

  She was the only one that didn't discipline me. Everybody disciplined me, I'd get in trouble. She'd be like, "Baby, it's alright." So one day, I said, "Grandma, when I get rich, I'm gonna buy you a house." You know what she says? "I want that house across the street." It wasn't no fancy shit like we lived in. It was a house across the street. We, I grew up in 100 Oak Street in Jersey City. She wanted 93. Cause the lady was over there. Her shit was nice, it was manicure. So when I got some money, I knocked on the lady's door. I said, "I wanna buy you a house." And she gave me her price, and I doubled her price. And I bought my grandmother her house. Bought her her first car. Like she, like, so, I got to do things for them, but I never got to tell them thank you. So that's why I cry.

• 5:16Shaquille O'Neal?

  It's not, "Bro, we live, we die, everybody has to die." I was raised by a guy that was so hard. You're not allowed to have emotion. Like, I'm sure you could understand this. "What the [__] you looking at?" "Motherfucker, I know you're not looking at me." "Shut up, what you crying for?" So like, I was, I was raised like that, so. Again, like, you know, another chance, and I want you to show this clip right here. When our first championship. Looks like I'm crying. I'm not crying because I'm sad. I'm crying because now what you motherfucker's gonna say? Now what you motherfucker gonna, like, I wanna, I wanna get crazy sometime, but I can't because my mom is watching. I never wanna let her down. I've always had the ability to stop time and say, "Okay, I wanna curse this motherfucker out."

• 6:00Shaquille O'Neal?

  I wanna say something so bad, but I know if I say something, how's my mom gonna react? So I hold it, I hold a lot in. So, you know, a lot of times when you see it, it may look like I get emotional. I don't, I'm, I don't have time to be emotional.

• 6:14Channing Crowder?

  Big man, is that healthy though? Like, you say you were, you're almost trained to do it, but that's not how, my, my, my father recently passed.

• 6:22Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yes.

• 6:23Channing Crowder?

  And it's the most I've cried in my life for that week. It kinda helped, it helped me crying. It helped me to show, I guess, we used to call it weakness.

• 6:32Shaquille O'Neal?

  Right.

• 6:33Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying? Is it healthy that you like, it's almost like we take a pride in not being emotional, but we can be, we allowed to.

• 6:39Shaquille O'Neal?

  I don't know if it's healthy or unhealthy, but...

• 6:43Shaquille O'Neal?

  You know the old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it? I am who I am, and I've been very successful doing it this way. I gotta, I gotta keep it like this. I do. I mean, I, the only time I get emotional is when I say, okay, I made a mistake. My biggest mistake was fucking over my family. That's like one of my biggest, like, I could really talk about that and be emotional about that, but not to the point to where I'm gonna cry. It did it, it happened, we learn from it, and, you know, we, we, uh, move on. You know, I try to teach my sons to be way better than I was. Cause I was, I was, I was out there. And I try to teach them, no, don't do that. If you're gonna talk to this person, let them know what it is, begin it, don't sell them something, like, so.

• 7:27Shaquille O'Neal?

  But I don't know if it's healthy or unhealthy, I just, I am who I am. Nice, humble, take care of my family, and don't care. Like, the biggest thing I, I tell my kids, stop reading comments. Because if you let a nobody affect a somebody, then the nobody wins. But who am I to tell any one of you guys about the NFL? I'm Shaq in my world, but I don't know nothing about your world, so how can my comments be validated? Now, Barry Sanders say something to one of y'all, I'm sure y'all gotta look at it different. Yeah, I did. You know, Michael Irvin, like, somebody that's been there and done that at a higher level, so. I always tell my kids, if you're gonna read something, before you get emotional and sensitive, see if there's some truth inside the criticism. And then, too, who the is saying it?

• 8:13Shaquille O'Neal?

  I don't never listen to a nobody. You can't tell me shit, nothing. You'll what you say, or you'll what you write. But if it's coming from a peer or somebody above, I'll always listen to it. You know what I'm saying? I figured that out because when I was balling in L.A., I was putting in work. Kareem said, yeah, he's an okay player, but how come they keep getting swept? Like, I can't. That's Reed. That's what I'm saying, yeah. Reed got six. I can't. Fuck, he ain't got one, he got six. So, I'm like, so I had to, so I had to say, okay, maybe he's right, and it made me turn it up a little bit, and I was able to get three or four. You know, like I told you the other day when you was going through your stuff, all those people had something to say. You said what you said, so what?

• 8:53Shaquille O'Neal?

  So, like, I don't know y'all, but I respect y'all enough, if y'all say something that I disagree with, I'm not gonna try to fight you. But literally, you said what you said, and I said what I said, and we move on. If I see you with your family, what's up, my man, what's up, like, it ain't, we need to learn how to be. Have a conversation and not always agree, but not always try to go at each other. Like, that's the only thing I, that's the only problem I have with us. Like, you never see CNN going at Fox. It's always just us. I mean, but, you know, it gives us that mystique. It, you know, makes us who we are. But I love this show. I love the professionalism that you guys. I love your point of view and I love watching you guys' show. I'm super proud of all you guys.

• 9:36Shaquille O'Neal?

  I don't have your number, but I always, you know, let him know that, like, hey, man, you guys are good. Like, I didn't realize he was good because one time we were up for an Emmy. Shit, I thought I was gonna win till they showed his clip. I was like, motherf**.

• 9:52Shaquille O'Neal?

  I've been here 12 years and, like, as a show, we probably got 10, 11 Emmys. But like, oh, coming up for Emmy, Shaquille O'Neal. I was like, shit, I'm about to win. Then they showed his clip. I was like, [bleep]. I was like, see, look, look. Motherf**er, I was worried. See, y'all think I'm crying. I ain't crying. Like, I saw his clips. I was like, I knew he was good. I was like, that's my professional and he's good. And he won. And I told him in the back, I said, hey, man, I'm proud of you. And we have to learn how to do that sometimes. Like, I'm Shaq, but I'm not, I'm not high enough on my horse to where I can't say, "Good job, my boy." Right. "Good job, my dog."

• 10:27Ryan Clark?

  Do you know how much that means to people, though? Like, when, you know, when you do reach out and you say, "Good job," or you show love? How have you been able to quantify what that means to other people?

• 10:41Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, but it don't mean the same thing. I respect you because I'm jealous of you. I've always used jealousy as motivation. I wish I was well-versed as you. I wish I had the vocabulary you had. Me and you the same. We got the sense of humor. Me and you the same. No disrespect to y'all. But when you speak, you speak on another whole elegant level. Then I wish I had that sometimes. So when I, when I reach out, it's like, one, I know who you are. I know who you went to school. So, you know, we have that. But you guys have been nothing but nice to me. So I have to show respect. And I'm like, man, yo, this show is fucking good. That's why when you call on my motherf** day off. I appreciate you too, dawg. They always say, hey, I'll do it because I have respect for you.

• 11:26Shaquille O'Neal?

  And then she told me my favorite camera guy was here, so I know this shit gonna be a good show. That's my boy, Derrick Charley.

• 11:32Fred Taylor?

  Earlier, when you mentioned your grandmother, you know, inviting her into the home that you wanted, it made me think about the people that you come across and the different things that I've seen or heard where your generosity, like, it's well-known. You know, RC's talking about showing love, man. Like, you're bigger than the world, but you always bring yourself down to look people or meet people where they are. Like, where did that come from and why is it important?

• 11:59Shaquille O'Neal?

  Because we're lucky.

• 12:02Shaquille O'Neal?

  I'm not smarter than you. I don't have a bigger vocabulary than you. I don't, I look better than you. I don't look better than you. I look better than this ugly motherfucker. I look better at your ugly ass. You are more attractive than me.

• 12:17Shaquille O'Neal?

  Because, you know, like, I look at all these superstars that had it given to them. I had to work for mine. So I've been a nobody longer than I've been a somebody. So when you're a nobody, people treat you a certain way. So now that I'm a somebody, I don't want to be treated like a somebody. I did a press conference. I wanted to make it go viral, it didn't go viral. Did a press conference about nine years ago, I said, "Don't say I'm a celebrity. Y'all celebrities are fucked up. Y'all assholes, y'all fucking stupid, you disrespect people, you shit on people. I don't want to be like that. Y'all don't see me a hundred times, it's either me or two of my boys." I said, "I don't have no entourage, we don't disrespect people, we don't shit on people."

• 12:59Shaquille O'Neal?

  So the answer to your question is, I've always said to myself, "My mama's watching."

• 13:06Shaquille O'Neal?

  What would she say if she saw me acting like a goddamn fool? It would hurt her heart. Because from two to 15, I hurt her heart every goddamn day, doing dumb shit. Right below the guns, I'm not saying I'm a gangster, but anything below guns and all that crazy shit, I was a master at it. Stealing, all that dumb shit, and it would just hurt her heart. And I remember my father disciplined me one time, that motherfucker hit me so hard, he changed my life. That motherfucker hit me so hard, I don't know what happened, but it just felt like my brain was like,

• 13:39Shaquille O'Neal?

  and I was like, "Yes, sir." And after that, I've been. Like, is it just he got tired, they got tired, everybody was tired? And I just was like, you know what, I don't, I don't, I don't wanna be that. And they did a great job of preaching horror stories. What I like about the world we live in now is everybody's mistake is amplified. Right? We didn't really have that, so my father would have to pick and choose his stories. But now you see a person make a mistake. That's why I always say, I'm not a role model, I'm a real model. If I make a mistake and you follow me and you see I made a mistake and you can tell your kid, hey, man, I know you like Shaq, but he fucked up, don't do that. That's what I like about this social media thing is everybody's mistake is amplified. Now you can say, I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do that.

• 14:24Shaquille O'Neal?

  Oh, I like that, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna follow that. So, I just, you know, I'm, I, I never considered myself a superstar because I'm just a regular guy that, that followed the rules, that believed in something, that went after something, and I had a higher purpose. My higher purpose is always buying my mama new house. That's it. Like, I used to see my mama work so hard, bro. And my daddy, and, and I had shit to show for it. And then they say, hey, man, you know, you can make... My dream was to make eight million for ten years, that's eight hundred thousand. Then the money changed and I was able to make forty million? Man, I'm like, you know what, you ain't working no more, mama. Daddy, you ain't working no more. Brother and sister, I'm gonna pay for all your shit too. That's my higher purpose.

• 15:09Shaquille O'Neal?

  And then we had stories of, hey, you know, athletes always lose that shit. So now I gotta figure ways to keep it. And not only keep it, keep it going and keep it going for them, for all my children. So, it just, you know, makes me continue to work hard. But the quicker you create something, you can lose it even quicker, especially by doing dumb shit. So, shitting on people is dumb.

• 15:30Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 15:31Shaquille O'Neal?

  Disrespecting people is dumb. Treating people lesser than is dumb. I don't, I don't, I don't have to do that. Like, I go in the clubs now, I see these mother-

• 15:40Shaquille O'Neal?

  That used to be me. I ain't gonna shit on you, my man. That used to be me, but. Bring it down, my boy. What you mean? I said, man, you don't have to do that. Like, people know who you are. You gotta realize, people like you, but then there's some, you see that motherfucker over there? He look like he don't like you. He look like he don't like you. So, and you gotta know where you at. Cause down there where we live at, they don't give a fuck about who you is. So.

• 16:08Ryan Clark?

  Shaq, you mentioned, like, don't treat you like a superstar, or you're not a superstar.

• 16:15Ryan Clark?

  Respectfully, you're lying, because you were and you are. It didn't feel like when you played, and maybe it's talk TV, or it's debate TV, it didn't feel like we were always trying to figure out who the next star was. When you became a star, everybody knew it. You won championships, you're the most dominant big man. I feel like every conversation is, is Halliburton the star? Is Kada star? Is SGA the guy? Is Anthony Edwards gonna be the face of the NBA? Why is it so different now?

• 16:46Shaquille O'Neal?

  And the reason why it's different now, because you look at all these guys' games, and they go like this. I don't know who they are mentally, but remember how I told you jealousy motivate me? Let's go back to high school. When I first got to high school, I wasn't the man. There's two motherfuckers ahead of me. I'm going after they shit. I'm going after them. They leave, now I'm the man. Now, when I get to college, I'm thinking I'm the man, and everybody's there, so now I gotta start all over. Chris is there, Stanley is there, I'm the man. So now, when I get in the NBA, all these motherfuckers ahead of me. Michael, Dominique, Isaiah, Charles, Malone, Broberson. I want the fucking spot. So, when they start fizzling out, I seen that little window, I'm taking this shit.

• 17:32Shaquille O'Neal?

  I don't give a fuck. Nobody say I'm taking it. So, when one person plays like, and says like, I'm taking it, then it'll be definitive. Tyrese Halliburton has a good game, and this guy has a good game, so like, we don't know who we should give it to. But Charles Barkley made the best point ever. You know, you can't give that away. Somebody gotta go take it. Right now, SGA is taking it. And he's taking it surely, smoothly. He ain't saying he not being arrogant about it. With his play, he's taking it. I'm gonna tell you that when I watch the guys play, and I get criticized for this. Because my thing is, I've seen Magic, I've seen Jordan, I've seen Kareem, I've seen greatness.

• 18:15Shaquille O'Neal?

  I played with Penny, played with Kobe, played with D Wade, LeBron. I've been a part of greatness. If you're not in that category, I'm not giving you no type of props. They want me to just give you props now? No, no. If you couldn't have played with us, or played like these guys, I'm not fucking with you. SGA is in there now. Stephen Curry's in there now. Giannis and Joker, those guys are in there now. So, when they talk about who the next guy is, I say you gotta give it to SGA right now, because he's taking it. If he wins the championship this year, it's his league.

• 18:47Channing Crowder?

  And that new, like you talking about the young boys with, even right now, I used to Halliburton, Ant, SGA, the dudes that's still in it. Is this, this new age media athlete, are they, are they still the same as the names you just brought up? You talking about D Wade, Kobe, Jordan, Kareem. You were saying names that were just, I don't know what they would have done, big dog. But are these new age athletes the same as the dudes? Or can they compete with those dudes in this new age, this new world?

• 19:19Shaquille O'Neal?

  A lot of people think the Gen Z athletes are better. I disagree. But I think Ad- Edwards could have played with us. Halliburton definitely could have played with us, because he's more like Penny Hunter. He likes to get guys involved. But I, I, I still think my era was, the era before that was very tough, but I think my era was, was tougher. And what I also like about this new era is, you get different conversations. And then you get professional guys like us talking about it, and a professional man. And then you get the non-professional guys. And then you get the guys that want to be us. And then you get guys that want to be them. And now it's a million different outlets, a million different podcasts, and a million different channels. It's a great conversation. Like, the GOAT conversation is a great conversation to me.

• 20:04Shaquille O'Neal?

  I just want the proper conversation. Mike, of course. I don't mind LeBron, but where's Kobe? And should we put Steph Curry in here now? That's all. I don't care who you pick, who you vote for. I just want to have, you know, that conversation.

• 20:20Channing Crowder?

  You want Steph? Because those first three is always in there. But I ain't heard Steph in the conversation.

• 20:24Fred Taylor?

  I feel like Kobe doesn't get into the conversation enough on the larger scale.

• 20:28Shaquille O'Neal?

  And he should. But, you know, it's good barbershop talk. Like, I, listen, I'm on my phone all day. I love listening to all the perspectives. But because I have no emotions, I don't get, I don't get too bent out of shape about it. Certain, certain things I get bent out of shape about. Like when they was fucking with him, got bent out of shape about it. But because my momma's watching, I can't go crazy, so I.

• 20:50Fred Taylor?

  He got hit me.

• 20:51Shaquille O'Neal?

  No, no, I hit him. I said, hey, man, you good? Because if he good, y'all good, I'm good. If he not good, then, you know what I'm saying? I got to take it off on my family. But he said he was good, so I was like, you know, you say something, you say something. It should be it. Now, all up, stop. And then I hate when you, when you acting like you're tough. Don't, don't do that. Don't, don't [bleep] do it. Like, I don't even know you, but come on, bro. I know you're not that. Stop it. Come on, dog. Like, right?

• 21:18Fred Taylor?

  Working on my pivot. You know, talking about conversation, right? We had a conversation the other day where we talked about, we got three small market teams in the conference finals and a big market team.

• 21:29Shaquille O'Neal?

  I saw that.

• 21:30Fred Taylor?

  What are you guys going to talk about that it's two small market teams? Or does that even matter?

• 21:35Shaquille O'Neal?

  You made up a great point, but I think what you forgot to focus on is who's playing in those small markets? Yeah, OKC is a small market, but SGA is the baddest [bleep] on the planet. If he gets Tyrese, you're still leaning towards OKC. But what if? What if Tyrese is a dog like us? Because I know we all were kind of underdogs in high school and then we had to, like, build, build a name for ourselves, right? So like, it may turn out to be a good series. And they, they, they run, both teams run. Both teams shoot threes. This shit might be exciting.

• 22:09Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 22:09Shaquille O'Neal?

  Right, and then OKC is a great fanbase. I just left Indiana yesterday. It's a nice fanbase, so it depends on how the games are played and how the flow goes. It's not, it's not gonna be highly publicized because the names aren't big enough. But if you're fans like we're fans, that's gonna be a running gun series. I'd rather them play Indiana than play New York. New York's gonna be slow down. That'll be a boring series to me. But Indiana versus OKC with both teams running, that shit, that shit may be some nice basketball to watch.

• 22:39Ryan Clark?

  You think it's good for the NBA though if it's two small market teams? Because I don't, and you may think this is different. It was great when you and Penny were in Orlando. And because your name was so big and his name was so big, that team was marketed. But it wasn't like when you went to LA. For the NBA, is it better if we get these teams in the big market to be the teams that show up in championships?

• 23:05Shaquille O'Neal?

  I think it is better, marketing wise, NBA viewership wise, but the big name markets gotta step up. The big time players and the New Yorks and Phoenix's and Golden State and Lakers, you gotta step up. We have the best teams coming out of West and the best coming out of East. But as a fan, I wouldn't mind seeing two young running teams, shooting threes, talking shit, two guys that can handle and shake people, make people go, "Ooh." When you talk about big market, small market, I think social media takes that away. Because you got, like, for example, a guy in a small market gonna be making 75 million. He just got eligible for that goddamn super max.

• 23:49Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 23:49Shaquille O'Neal?

  350 for five, that's 75 million a year, so.

• 23:53Ryan Clark?

  Guaranteed.

• 23:54Shaquille O'Neal?

  Guaranteed, so, I mean, I understand big market, small market, but I'd rather have 75 million in Oklahoma than 75 million in LA. Because in LA, you cut that shit in half, you only bring home 30. I don't know what the tax is in Oklahoma, so, you know, I think, I think the small market, big market is slowly disappearing, depending on the player, the status of the player.

• 24:18Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior like beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 24:46Fred Taylor?

  Hey Shaq, how would the old school, the OKC Big Three from back in the day, I was at KD, Harden, and Russ fair against this OKC squad?

• 24:57Channing Crowder?

  They got a Big Three, Chet, Jalen, and SGA. That's what the people on TV said. They have a cellphone commercial, where they all wore the same jacket.

• 25:09Fred Taylor?

  I just want to ask a question because the reason I ask it is because many feel that those guys somewhat underachieved.

• 25:16Shaquille O'Neal?

  And we're all, and we're all responsible for this. We give away too many titles sometimes. They got a Big Two.

• 25:24Shaquille O'Neal?

  J-Dub, serious, he can play. Other guys just a role player, stop it.

• 25:28Channing Crowder?

  Chet Holmgren is just a role player?

• 25:30Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yes.

• 25:31Channing Crowder?

  But?

• 25:32Shaquille O'Neal?

  He's a great role player. He's a Horace Grant or Toni Kuko, he's not taking away, but he's not a Big Three, stop it.

• 25:38Channing Crowder?

  But, but.

• 25:40Shaquille O'Neal?

  Stop it.

• 25:40Channing Crowder?

  I would say that being one of the best big men in the history of basketball,

• 25:45Shaquille O'Neal?

  Who?

• 25:46Channing Crowder?

  You.

• 25:47Shaquille O'Neal?

  Oh, okay.

• 25:48Channing Crowder?

  He was about to get mad at you, he thought you were talking about Chet. No, I told you the first interview, don't bring your big ass around me now.

• 25:55Channing Crowder?

  You too big, you too big to wrestle with. But you, even the Go Bears, even still in, in, right now, the Go Bears and the Miles Turners, and like, I think you have to criticize, but I don't think basketball has real big men anymore.

• 26:09Shaquille O'Neal?

  They don't.

• 26:10Channing Crowder?

  Do you see, and so your, your, your criticism of Chet is because he's not like you? He's back there shooting, Karl-Anthony Towns, he's got his big ass outside the three-point line every damn play. It, it upsets me watching the Knicks, because he's never down in the paint.

• 26:24Shaquille O'Neal?

  What makes me me? Because I played at a high level, right?

• 26:27Channing Crowder?

  You played at a very high level.

• 26:28Shaquille O'Neal?

  And, and that's all I want people to do, play at a high level. You ain't gonna beat me, nobody gonna be, I tell my son, you my [bleep] ain't gonna beat me, I'm crazy. I'm psycho. I used to eat bookers when I was little. You're not even human.

• 26:39Fred Taylor?

  You had that doggy twice.

• 26:41Shaquille O'Neal?

  That's nasty. So, but, so it's not that I want you to be like, when you, when you seven four making two fifty, don't let my [__] dunk on you Rudy Gobert. It ain't that I'm criticizing, like, just be great.

• 26:52Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 26:52Shaquille O'Neal?

  Throw some bows. Like, they dropping you off, you fumbling the ball, like, my [__] be great. Like, it ain't, I don't want you to be like, man, I just want you to be great. So, you know, a lot of people get the misconception, oh, you want Dwight Howard to be like, no, my [__] be great. You, you [__] coming out of telephone booths flying in there, dunk it, be great. Average twenty-five, fifteen, so, but you're right, there is no more big man. And I hate that it's a copycat league. I really hate it. Like, you know, somebody asked me the other day, what would I average? I would average fifty. And the reason why I'd average fifty, because I don't do what everybody else is doing. Like, you shoot a three on me Joker, you better [__] make it, because I'm gonna run right by you and stand in the middle of the lane and watch you and your whole team go, three seconds, three seconds, three seconds. And Penny gonna push that bitch and throw it, and I'm gonna dunk it.

• 27:36Shaquille O'Neal?

  And I know for a fact, I'll make fifteen twos before you make ten threes. I'm, I'm getting thirty. I'm getting thirty every night. And then now, when you foul somebody, it's a flirt, and so guys don't really want to foul you hard. My, that's another ten points right there. And then I'm gonna concentrate on the free throw, get that elbow there, that's another, that's forty-five points right there. Oh, Shaq couldn't play in this league. Shaq ain't known for defense. Okay Joker, you can hit a three, but again, I'm gonna run right by you, and I'm gonna steal my ass in the lane, and ain't nobody moving me. Because you know what? If you move me, you make my mama move, move out of her house. And that shit ain't gonna happen.

• 28:09Ryan Clark?

  Like, you keep talking about the things you got to do, Shaq. And you can't watch TV and not see a commercial with your face on it. And we know that you're constantly doing business, continuing to acquire different things to build this empire you're building. When we met with you the first time and we sat and talked, you talked about what was your biggest regret, the thing you fumbled. How fulfilled are you with the life that you've lived?

• 28:38Shaquille O'Neal?

  I'm not fulfilled at all. Because again, when you're raised a certain way.

• 28:44Shaquille O'Neal?

  Like what's up, I got a new plane yesterday and my guy is like, why you not?

• 28:48Channing Crowder?

  Hmm, you gonna just say that like that, smooth like that?

• 28:52Shaquille O'Neal?

  No, I'm just saying like, I don't get happy because it's always the next, right? It's like, it's, it's all, and I'm programmed to, once I get something, celebrate it for a couple of seconds and then move on. Okay, I got this new plane, but it's not about new planes, it's about, okay, create more opportunities for myself. Now, instead of waiting to call in to, to go meet with somebody, to come fly, to do your interview, I'll just fly myself. And I think that keeps me motivated. I could stop right now, but I don't wanna stop. You know why? I don't wanna stop for them. Cause I read, I read all the time and I'm looking at the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds. I want my kids to be like the O'Neills.

• 29:32Shaquille O'Neal?

  I want like forty years when I'm going, now, hey, hey Edward, how'd you get this with my great, great father, grandfather? Like I, I want that shit. You see what I'm saying? So, it just, you know, keep, keeps me motivated. I'm blessed, I'm lucky. But I think my greatest attribute is I listen to two people. I listen to a secretary that had a baby at sixteen years old. And he used to take the baby to her mother's house and her mother used to go, this one right here is special. And I listened to an army drill sergeant who was a high juvenile delinquent, who got in a lot of trouble. And, uh, one of his relatives who was a cop says, you can either go to jail or you join the fucking army. And he joined the army and then he met my mother and then he raised me.

• 30:17Shaquille O'Neal?

  They created all of this. And they used to tell me this in the seventies, you can do this, you can. I never believed them. Man, you gonna have your own plane. Man, you like, man, your house gonna be so big, you gonna have a bowling alley in that mother. I'd just be sitting there like, for real, I have? And all that shit came true. So if they said it then and it came true, this is the blueprint. So I can never, never change the blueprint. And listen, I'm happy about my life, really happy about my life, but I don't get too happy. Cause the dad get too happy, it's a day to be all gone. And by that time, I'll be in, in the old folks home, in the villages.

• 30:51Ryan Clark?

  The villages? Why your old folks home would be in the villages?

• 30:55Shaquille O'Neal?

  You know who Dionko is?

• 30:57Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 30:57Shaquille O'Neal?

  So Dionko in his last special. And it fucked me up ever since. He said, where the forty year olds at?

• 31:05Shaquille O'Neal?

  Where the fifty year olds at like me?

• 31:08Shaquille O'Neal?

  This motherfucker said twenty summers left. You know what I mean?

• 31:11Fred Taylor?

  Yup.

• 31:11Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 31:12Shaquille O'Neal?

  In twenty summers, I'm gonna be fucking seventy. In seventeen summers, it's summer now, so after this, I'm gonna be sixteen summers, I'm gonna be seventy. I'm about to have so much fun. So when I turn seventy, I'm going straight to the villages. And I'm gonna be partying like a motherfucker.

• 31:27Fred Taylor?

  It ain't too far from Orlando, straight up the turnpike.

• 31:31Fred Taylor?

  You know, with all that you've done, Shaq, talk about power moves. You're the president of Reebok Basketball, right?

• 31:39Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, so, again, remember how I tell you jealousy motivates me? So yesterday, I donated two thousand pair of shoes. So when I go to kids, what you want? I give them what they want. Man, let me get them Jordans. Alright, everybody give them Jordans. Like, it ain't all about me, it's all about them. But whatever y'all want, I don't, like, we all in this business together. Like, I want KD to be successful, I want, I want all you guys to be successful. I met with this kid one day, he was like, I want some Jordan 12s. You know, I don't know, I never was a Nike guy, so I don't know those. He didn't want the red, like, I just bought him some Jordans, he's like, nah, man, I want the 12s. I'm like, what the fuck is the 12s? Like, I don't even know what that is. So I'm calling Reebok, I'm like, how many fucking shoes do I got? No, seriously, like, like, like, this motherfucker, like, and then I go through the category.

• 32:24Shaquille O'Neal?

  Jordan is Jordan, he's the man. Like, I'm like, damn, I got some shit. Where my shit at? So, I'm calling Reebok, and Adidas had bought Reebok, and bought up all their contracts, NFL, UFC, and kind of pushed Reebok out of the way. So I'm calling Reebok, I'm like, man, where my shoe at? Like, they, they released the, the Shagnosis and the other one, that's two. I'm like, my, we're three, four, five, we're the, we're the Hall of Fame, we're... So they don't have nothing, so Adidas kind of pushed Reebok away. So, the company that I'm, that I'm involved with, Authentic Brands Group, we buy, we buy brands. So I, I encouraged my guys, I said, man, we gotta buy Reebok. Think I'll be real big, we, we gotta buy Reebok and, and bring them back. For me, it was just an opportunity to bring them back to some type of prominence.

• 33:09Shaquille O'Neal?

  And it is a challenge, you know, when I was coming up, we were never number one, but we were never number three. Number two, like, I learned in business, it's okay to be next to the man. I remember one time I came out with an energy drink. You can't go against Red Bull, motherfucker. You can't. If Red Bull right there, your ass better be next to him. I know that shit, so in all the stories, you got your Nike and all that? Well, put my shit right there. Like, when I first came out, I didn't sell no shoes. And then I had to learn the business. I said, where the fuck is Mike at? Mike right there? I put him right there. Just put me on that same motherfucker wall as Mike. You gonna see Mike and be, oh, what's that? Oh, that's Shaq.

• 33:50Shaquille O'Neal?

  Give me them, like, hey, if I can get a percentage of what you're doing, I'm fine. So we were number two. And I was like, I wonder if I could bring us back to that. Because I go to all these tournaments and I don't see nobody wearing Reebok. I'm like, damn, what the fuck happened? So I encouraged my partners to buy it. And I said, hey, make me the president. And I said, you know what? I think we need to make AI the vice president. And the reason why I did that is because every team that I play on, I control the big man lines. I'm talking to big men. I ain't talking to these little motherfuckers. Penny, Kobe, D Wade, you talk to the point guard lines. I got the big man line. So I know when I go to a high school tournament, oh, Shaq, Shaq, Shaq, Shaq, Shaq.

• 34:33Shaquille O'Neal?

  But if you a little man, you gonna respect Iverson way more than you respect me. So I was the first big signee for Reebok. And you gotta be a big man fan to buy big man shoes. I understand that. But when AI signed, everybody loved this shit. He just took it to the next level. So I was like, make him the vice president. And I think my greatest attribute is that I won championships. Because when you win championships, as you know, you learn to listen. So I show up, all right, what we got going on? And I listen. And I throw in what I know, throw in what I know, like. And I had to learn that quick. Because when I first came out, I was like, let me see the designs. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Give me some motherfucking high tops.

• 35:19Shaquille O'Neal?

  And then, you know, I brought my son in with me so he could help me talk to Gen Z and he tapped me on the leg, "Oh, shut up." Let me see, next time I come back up this motherfucker, I wanna see some high top. So my son is smart, he's like me, he know he can't really talk about it. He's like, "Hey Dad, let's go check out some new players." So I went to this big arena with thirty courts. And my son Sharif said, "Dad, look at the shoes the guys are wearing." He did it the right way, rattling on, "Dad, motherfuckers don't wear high tops." Old motherfucker. He said, "Just watch." So I'm not even watching the game, like, "Low tops, next court, low top." So now it made me come to the realization, "Motherfuckers don't wear high tops no more." So now I said, "Okay, if you want this position where everybody's looking at you, you really gotta listen."

• 36:02Shaquille O'Neal?

  So shout out to Sharif and Colin and all the other guys up there. And then I had to deal with something I never had to deal with, budgets. Cause I'm like, "I'm gonna sign Shay, I'm gonna sign all these players." But hollering at their agent, "He motherfucking worth sixty million." And now I gotta go back to the boy, but it's like, "Man, you ain't got sixty million." "Let the f*** come in." He said, "We got sixty million, but you ain't got sixty million in your budget." So now we gotta go back and it was like, "You know what? Since we're starting all over, we gonna start with the younger generation." And then I said, "Let me make a power call right quick. Angel, you wanna go with Nike? Were they just gonna give you a regular shoe? Or you wanna deal with them, they give you your own shoe? You know you the shit, you need your own fucking shoe." "For real? You can do that?" "Yeah, I can do that."

• 36:47Shaquille O'Neal?

  So Angel, signing Angel was my... Cause Angel's just like us. Yeah, you the man, she's the man, but motherfucker, I'm the man too. And if they the man and she the man, I wanna be treated like the man too. I can't be the man under a man. Like, the reason why I signed with Reebok, cause when I went to Nike, motherfuckers said, "Oh, you gotta play three years." I'm like, "Play three years with what?" Like, yeah, we we're not gonna give you your own shoe. We gave it to somebody else. I was like, what the you just said to me? Fly eye. Then I went to Reebok with a Nike jacket on. I was like, hey, man, Nike. Offer me a lot. No, no, we'll give you your own shoe. For real. I get to control the marketing. And I made this little, you know, Jordan got Jumpman. I made Dunkman. Can we put that shit on my shoe? Yeah, yeah, we do it like so.

• 37:32Shaquille O'Neal?

  That's how I got with Reebok. So signed Angel, signed a couple of young players, and we're just starting all over. Because I listened to everybody that was there, the Todds, all the people were there. We are starting off in the right direction. Because remember, it's all about selling shoes. The designs, the pricing, and the players we sign. So we're we're Angel. Angel gave us a big push. We'll see a lot of that on the Netflix film. June 4th, Netflix.

• 37:57Ryan Clark?

  You mentioned Penny. Obviously, today, you've already mentioned Kobe and now Allen Iverson. And the synergy between the the big man and the little guy. Right? There's always that sort of chemistry that pushes a team, an organization, forward. On your show, Kenny kind of just stays out of the way and does basketball. Ernie is the absolute GOAT. But you and Chuck argue all the time, bruh.

• 38:30Ryan Clark?

  Do you like Chuck?

• 38:31Shaquille O'Neal?

  Chuck makes me wish I had a bigger brother. I don't know what it feels like to have a bigger brother. So we're in the game. The motherfucker hit me with the ball.

• 38:40Shaquille O'Neal?

  We are from the same place. I stop time. If I say, oh, it's Chuck, I already know it's gonna happen. Charles punk Shaq, Shaq a pussy, can't go to the barber shop. I can't have that. I'm knocking this motherfucker out. So I overreached with the left. Chuck scared. He comes, scoot me out, boom, boom, boom. I'm still gonna come up at the game. I'm getting this motherfucker. I don't give a fuck. Nobody say, fucker fine, I'm fucking him up. By the time I got to the locker room, my Uncle Jerome, y'all know Uncle Jerome. He hands me the phone. My mom and Charles mom, who's been best friends for 20 years, I never knew. Both of them on the phone. Y'all cut that shit out. Hello? Who's this? It's your mom.

• 39:26Shaquille O'Neal?

  And it's Charles' mom. Don't you hit my baby. So now the love we got from my mama, that shit. I'm not gonna disrespect my mama and damn not gonna disrespect his mama.

• 39:37Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 39:37Shaquille O'Neal?

  You just get killed for that shit.

• 39:39Channing Crowder?

  Real talk, real talk.

• 39:42Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yes, man. I'm still kinda mad that I don't wanna talk to him. I done already talked to Charles, he's in the hallway. So I'm coming down the hallway, Charles is laughing, cuz he's a mama boy, I'm laughing cuz we's a mama boy. We dap up. I don't see him, I don't even think about it. I go to my house one day. Cuz my mom said, "Hey, baby, can we borrow your house?" Cuz my mama used to be the president of the Mothers of the NBA. So we go to her house and it's all the, all the top guys' moms are there. And they're playing spades, my mom and his mom, talking shit, my finger, right? Same thing me and him do. But as I'm watching them, just like us, we can go crazy with each other, but I'll never disrespect y'all. Now, I don't like what the [__] you said, but that's [__] up, but I ain't gonna dis- that's gonna be it.

• 40:28Shaquille O'Neal?

  Ryan, my boy, but, you know, it's like, I ain't gonna be like, "Well, Ryan, I don't wanna do all that. I'll say what I say." I see that they're arguing, having a good time, but they never disrespect each other. And we have the same relationship. Do I like him? Lot of [__], he's a great guy. And he makes me say, "Man, if I had a big brother, I wish I had a big brother like that."

• 40:47Channing Crowder?

  Man, that's awesome.

• 40:47Shaquille O'Neal?

  He speaks his mind, he gonna say what he wants to say, and he doesn't care. I knew Charles was real one day cuz they never call us in for a pre-production meeting. We get the text early, "Oh, coming 3 a.m." So we get there, and all the top guys are there. "Hey, Charles, we're getting a lot of complaints about, uh, you talking about the San Antonio women and we thinking of that." Charles said, "Okay, I'll take care of it." And when the show started, this is what [__] he did. He said, uh...

• 41:18Shaquille O'Neal?

  You see that camera? "Hi, this is Charles Barkley. You guys are getting a lot of complaints about me talking to San Antonio women. I don't give a [__] if you don't like what the [__] you just go off. If you don't like what I say, turn the goddamn channel. You know I'm [__] playing to people." Listen, y'all can fire me today, I'm still gonna get paid. I'm gonna say what I wanna say, what I wanna say." I said, "I love that [__] you know." That, that, that, he, he was, he was real. So, you know, a lot of people may think we don't like each other, but it's two highly qualified people arguing. Only time I question him is when he start going in the championship mode, and I go, "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah." Hold on. How do you know?

• 41:59Ryan Clark?

  It feel like this show a little bit Shaq.

• 42:00Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah.

• 42:01Ryan Clark?

  You know what I mean? Like when we talk about championships.

• 42:03Shaquille O'Neal?

  But y'all never disrespect each other. Y'all arguing, y'all fight brothers.

• 42:08Fred Taylor?

  You usually want to catch an alley-oop, not this one, man.

• 42:11Ryan Clark?

  He do it right now for me. He said it right by the rim. Yeah Shaq, you know, I be saying the same thing. Like we're talking about Super Bowls and championships. I'm like, well, how do you guys know?

• 42:20Fred Taylor?

  I don't really speak on it too much. I certainly would love to.

• 42:24Channing Crowder?

  Can't swipe ass pants on though, man. It's your ass side.

• 42:27Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, you know, I was looking at, yeah.

• 42:29Channing Crowder?

  He be on some weird shit with the clothes on.

• 42:32Shaquille O'Neal?

  Motherfucker got on pinstripes and a purple rain suit.

• 42:38Fred Taylor?

  That's what Prince would do.

• 42:41Ryan Clark?

  Y'all hurt my feelings.

• 42:43Fred Taylor?

  That's what Prince would do.

• 42:44Ryan Clark?

  Y'all hurt my feelings at all.

• 42:46Fred Taylor?

  Chuck think he sexy now?

• 42:47Ryan Clark?

  Got the two little Alex two socks pants on with the grease stain on the side.

• 42:51Channing Crowder?

  Hey, man, yeah, I ate some ladies potato chips earlier.

• 42:55Fred Taylor?

  Don't stand up. Nah, he was saying Chuck think he sexy now because he on that much.

• 42:59Shaquille O'Neal?

  One of those skinny jeans or sweats?

• 43:01Channing Crowder?

  These sweats.

• 43:02Shaquille O'Neal?

  Oh, okay.

• 43:02Channing Crowder?

  These sweats Shaq with the.

• 43:04Shaquille O'Neal?

  Okay, I thought them shits were skinny jeans.

• 43:05Ryan Clark?

  He got a lot of atrophy in his quads because he had 18, he had 18 knee surgeries. So his quads don't really activate. It's just one muscle. It's supposed to be four.

• 43:15Channing Crowder?

  I might be medically crippled. I just went to the doctor in a couple of years.

• 43:50Ryan Clark?

  Shag, I have a question for you. We were talking about this before the show. Right, as you get older, the frequency in which you use the bathroom increases.

• 43:57Shaquille O'Neal?

  A lot.

• 43:58Ryan Clark?

  Channing has a very little bladder. And his, uh, his urethra wall is weak.

• 44:04Channing Crowder?

  I got a big urethra, little bladder.

• 44:06Shaquille O'Neal?

  I don't know what that mean, but go ahead.

• 44:07Ryan Clark?

  So, when he's sleeping in the bed with his lady.

• 44:10Shaquille O'Neal?

  You pee in the bed?

• 44:11Ryan Clark?

  He has.

• 44:11Channing Crowder?

  I don't pee in the bed. Next to that. But, Shag, you talked about it last time. You had a 76,000 square foot house?

• 44:19Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah.

• 44:19Channing Crowder?

  Mine is 10,000. That bathroom's a long way away, that toilet.

• 44:24Shaquille O'Neal?

  So you got a pee bucket?

• 44:26Channing Crowder?

  I got a little gallon bottle.

• 44:28Shaquille O'Neal?

  Okay.

• 44:28Channing Crowder?

  And I roll over and pee in the little bottle.

• 44:31Ryan Clark?

  You for sure dripping your bed, though.

• 44:33Shaquille O'Neal?

  No, you don't.

• 44:34Channing Crowder?

  And the lady come, the lady come Tuesdays and Fridays and cleans.

• 44:36Shaquille O'Neal?

  Not that I know from experience, but if you aim it right, you don't drip. Not that I know, I'm just saying.

• 44:42Channing Crowder?

  Well. See, y'all, y'all thought Shag was gonna be on y'all's side. I believe Shag was on my side.

• 44:46Shaquille O'Neal?

  But hold on, they sell them in the store.

• 44:48Ryan Clark?

  No, he just use a water gallon bottle.

• 44:50Shaquille O'Neal?

  Same thing. What's the difference?

• 44:53Channing Crowder?

  He can't be that lazy, bro.

• 44:54Ryan Clark?

  He's not that lazy, see? Y'all put words on it, it's efficient.

• 44:58Shaquille O'Neal?

  Not that I do it, but I understand her.

• 45:02Channing Crowder?

  Get way out the bed, walk on that marble, your feet are cold now. Now I'm shivering, I don't wanna shiver.

• 45:08Shaquille O'Neal?

  And listen, if I get up out the bed and turn the light on, I'll never get back to sleep. And my shit be dark and I don't wanna stub my toes, so.

• 45:15Ryan Clark?

  Big old toes, yeah, I respect that.

• 45:17Shaquille O'Neal?

  I saw one, they had an, I ain't gonna talk about this on the show.

• 45:20Ryan Clark?

  You saw what? No.

• 45:21Shaquille O'Neal?

  They had an attachment with the tube. And it just sits on the floor. Look it up on Amazon, you can just attach it to your thingy. And it just.

• 45:30Channing Crowder?

  You remember the name?

• 45:31Ryan Clark?

  So wait, so the whole night, it's attached and then you just?

• 45:35Shaquille O'Neal?

  And you just let it go.

• 45:36Ryan Clark?

  It's like a catheter, but on the outside.

• 45:38Shaquille O'Neal?

  You let it go and it just.

• 45:39Ryan Clark?

  That's disgusting.

• 45:39Shaquille O'Neal?

  I ordered three of them.

• 45:44Channing Crowder?

  What's the name of this?

• 45:46Ryan Clark?

  You really want it, huh?

• 45:47Channing Crowder?

  Outside catheter. The Wisinator.

• 45:52Fred Taylor?

  But nah Shaq, in real life though, man, cuz you talking about aging, you mentioned 16 summers. You know, every, we did, we do Monday motivation posts and the most recent one came off the heels of Tany losing his father, but in the episode where I was about to lose my grandmother, he said, "We gotta check on our funny friends."

• 46:10Shaquille O'Neal?

  We do.

• 46:11Fred Taylor?

  Right? But you, the most lovable, one of the most lovable people on the planet, I would assume. How are you, big dog? Like, how often are you asked, "How are you mentally, health-wise, physically?"

• 46:23Shaquille O'Neal?

  I don't worry about me, I'm fine. I did a speech the other day and lady asked me, "What are you, what are you most disappointed at?"

• 46:35Shaquille O'Neal?

  And my sister passed away on a Thursday.

• 46:39Shaquille O'Neal?

  I go see her. This is the third time battling cancer. You know how family is, they don't wanna put the stress on us, but I don't wanna put the stress on them. So, they don't tell me she's stage four. So I'm thinking, "Hey, you beat the last two times, you good, you straight." And I asked, I said, "Hey, you want me to stay?" But they know, I take everything. It's like, "No, go take care of business." But already, before I got in the car, "Hey man, I'm doing this meeting. Get the plane ready, I'm coming to the bank. It's gonna cost, I don't give a how much it costs." But you can't fly, well, get a different goddamn plane. Go there, land, do the meeting, 8 o'clock. On the way back, she passes away. I get the text. But I didn't tell her I love her.

• 47:23Shaquille O'Neal?

  All the other times, I love you, I miss you, my last thing I said was, "I'll be back tomorrow." I didn't say, "I love you, you okay, miss you." And then, couple months after that, Kobe passed. And it's a suck saying that we had our little thing, but I could've text him, "What you doing? Hey man, I see you coaching the girls, seeing you," like, I just, those are my two. Besides losing my family, that, not saying, "I love you" to my sister, not saying, "I love you" to my brother. That fucks me up. So I urge people, "Hey man." My boy, what you doing? You all right? Enemies, friends, exes? Just reach out, because when you're gone, you're gone forever.

• 48:07Shaquille O'Neal?

  Think about what I just said. When you die, you are gone forever. There is no coming back. So, the fact that I can't call my little sister, who was perfect. What I mean by perfect, never asked me for nothing. I paid for her school, got a job, was running a hotel, had a husband. I got her a house, I got her a car. She had my little money, she had all my little money. She was living a great life. Never bothered nobody. Third time catching cancer, never complained. Never was like, "Baby, can you get me the bed?" Like, never, never even let me know she was sick. And the fact I couldn't tell her I love her. And then my boy. We did great things together. Despite of, despite the problems y'all thought we had, we made history together.

• 48:51Shaquille O'Neal?

  We are the most dominant, enigmatic, one-two punch ever created, never to be duplicated. Matter of fact, the number one Laker duo in history. And you can tell Magic and Kareem, I said it. Write it down, send it to them, text it to them, fax it to them. Motherf-- put it on a pigeon, fly it to them. Yes, so the fact that I couldn't tell my, my sister and my boy, "I love you. It's one last time, I love you. Two last times, ten last times." That, that, that kinda haunts me. So, I urge people, man, reach out to your loved ones, reach out to your exes, reach out to your enemies, reach out to your boys who you separated from, you know, just to check on them.

• 49:31Ryan Clark?

  Shaq, a lot of people have those sorts of regrets, and you can talk about them in the moment, you feel them in the moment, but it never becomes an action, right?

• 49:42Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, I'm still, yeah, I'm still bad at it.

• 49:46Ryan Clark?

  Have, have you been trying to put that into action?

• 49:49Shaquille O'Neal?

  I'm trying, but, you know, I, all I know is work.

• 49:53Shaquille O'Neal?

  And when I say work, before my father passed away, he said, you know, it's your show now. Which means, his wife, my mother, I take care of. Brothers and sisters, I take care of. All they kids, I take care of. All my kids, I take care of. You know, all my boys, I take care of. All my, like, you know, all the, you wanna do a podcast and produce, you take care of all that. So I'm running the show now. So running the show is important because if the show ain't ran properly, you lose it.

• 50:27Channing Crowder?

  Who takes care of, who takes care of Shaquille O'Neal?

• 50:29Shaquille O'Neal?

  Nobody. I take care of myself.

• 50:33Shaquille O'Neal?

  Like, I caught flak one time, I was on this young lady's podcast, and she said, uh, do you express your emotions to your woman? I said, no, why would I do that? Oh, and they tried to kill me. Eh, but I don't. And the reason why, because as a man, you are to protect, provide, and love. And women are emotional and caring. So if I'm telling her I have a bad day, now it's two people with bad days. I don't tell my woman I'm having a bad day. How's your day? I'm good, baby. I gotta take care of it. Because if you put stress on her, she gonna put it right back on you. Because it's our job to protect, provide, and love. But people, oh, you do it. No, I don't do that. I take care of everything. And that's just how it's gonna be. And you know why I'm like that? Because it's work for me.

• 51:16Shaquille O'Neal?

  It's work for me. So I'm not gonna meet somebody now and be like, oh, no, not doing that.

• 51:20Channing Crowder?

  But Big D, you can't work till you die. There has to be a number. There has to be a finish line. There has to be something.

• 51:27Shaquille O'Neal?

  It is. And I don't wanna say the number, because, you know, for us, when we say the number, oh, he. I don't wanna make it seem like I'm bragging. The number is to where my kids, kids, kids, kids, kids, kids, kids, kids, kids, kids, can have nothing to worry about. That's the number. Tell you another story.

• 51:41Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 51:42Shaquille O'Neal?

  Which motivates me. I'm in the Bahamas. I'm with my boys. You know how we do. We like to fake it till we make it. I rent the biggest yacht out there, motherfucker. It ain't mine, but y'all don't know it's mine, because if y'all see me on it, y'all gonna think it's mine. That's what I want. So I'm, give me something. Something, something, something big or something small. Give me that. So this is my yacht. It's still the biggest one out there. I'm parked in front of the motherf- casino. And, you know, I'm smoking my hookah and chilling, you know, things is walking by. Oh, that's diesel. Yeah, what's happening? I'm doing all that thing. The next day, hmm, hmm, hmm. One of these motherfuckers pull up.

• 52:22Shaquille O'Neal?

  You laughing, one of these motherf**er pull up. And it's an 80-year-old man with a hot young wife and all her friends. So now I'm f**king pissed. You know why I'm pissed? Because he's living my life. So again, when I see that f**king shit, I get jealous and it just motivates me. This is what I want. When I'm done, I want to be on a big-ass motherfucking yacht with a young, long time.

• 52:45Shaquille O'Neal?

  Having fun. Seriously, bro. And this shit cost me about $200 a week. And my shit was a hundred foot, but this motherf**er pull up, old Texas dude, woo. And you know what's crazy? It was an empty slot next to my shit the whole time. I wouldn't even think about it. This motherf**er pull up a little bit, woo, woo, woo. So now, motherf**ers walk about, they're not looking at my shit no more.

• 53:06Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 53:06Shaquille O'Neal?

  They're not looking. And then, and then the motherf**er say, "That's your yacht? It's kind of small, ain't it?" That's what the motherf**er say to me. I'm like, "Now the motherf**er shitting on me."

• 53:15Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 53:16Shaquille O'Neal?

  So, so you say, so you say, "What's the number?" So my new motivation is, I want to get enough to where I could get a big yacht and live somewhere blue. That's my, that's my new fake motivation. Like, I set all these motivations up, you know, to keep me going. Reebok, I ain't got no motherf**ing Jordans, 1 through 12. I'm gonna buy Reebok and do this and that. So it's just, it just to keep me going, because never get satisfied. My father did a great job of me winning a trophy, doing the cookout, and then the next day you come in the house and the trophy not there. And then again, you can't ask him where the trophy at. I asked him one time, and the motherf**er smacked me. "Motherf**er, don't be questioning me, go get another one."

• 53:57Shaquille O'Neal?

  Like, "Hey, Dad, what much?" "Motherf**er, you questioning me?" "No, sir." "Go get another one." "I don't motherf**er know where it's at, motherf**er, go get a new one." And just make me, baseball season, salad, baseball season, soccer, like, just play every, every freaking sport. But what that enabled me to do is be athletic, be competitive, and never settle, even when you win.

• 54:18Ryan Clark?

  You mentioned the big, the big yacht, right? 80-year-old man pulled up on side of you and told you that his is bigger than yours.

• 54:24Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yes.

• 54:25Ryan Clark?

  Right? When we sat last time, I think the, the biggest thing that came out of that was you talking about the size of your house that you went to that was empty.

• 54:36Ryan Clark?

  What you're talking about attaining are things. When you said you created your own loneliness, you had a lot of things. You had this huge house, but you said it was empty. If you had that moment where you felt that emptiness, even though you had all this material, how is achieving those goals of gaining more material going to satisfy you when you knew exactly what you were missing?

• 55:03Shaquille O'Neal?

  So when I bought the house, it was 20,000 square foot. I built it for us, 76,000 square foot. So that was for us. The yacht is not about material things. That's for me. That's for me, 70. You want to be on a yacht with a young thing? Or you want to be, or you want to be?

• 55:23Ryan Clark?

  In the village?

• 55:23Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, in the village.

• 55:25Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you can have both.

• 55:27Shaquille O'Neal?

  But you're right, it's a great question. It's not about, it's not about material things. It's about taking something that excites you to continue the motivation. I don't need a big yacht. I probably won't even buy it, but it's just, that's just how we are. We competitive. You know, when I'm in the club, I got my ice on. I want my ice to shine a little bit better. If I see a rapper with some bigger shit than me, I get mad. I ain't going to bullshit you now. Because I'm like, this motherfucker can't make as much of that. Hey, man, I want Superman piece so big. It's just, hey, it's just, it's just who we are as athletes. You know, a lot of people don't know how to do that friendly and respectfully without being disrespectful.

• 56:07Ryan Clark?

  Are we talking Bill Belichick young, though? How young are we talking about on this yacht?

• 56:14Shaquille O'Neal?

  Bill Baller, that's all I'm saying. Bill Baller. Bill must be slanging that thing, ain't he? Hey, you ain't seen the news apologizing for that show? Oh, what happened? Oh, he got a truck.

• 56:32Ryan Clark?

  Bill throwing that man. Bill throwing that man. Bill's got a game plan, he is producing. Hey, Bill like, this is the scheme? This is the way we're going to enter the A-GAP? My too, straight to the A-GAP.

• 56:47Shaquille O'Neal?

  I'm changing your name to BBC, Dick Bill Belichick.

• 56:53Fred Taylor?

  Hey Shaq, give me your, and I don't know if you've been asked this, your top five NBA rappers of all time?

• 57:02Shaquille O'Neal?

  Let's see, Stack Five is nice. Damon is nice. I just heard Kyrie is nice.

• 57:09Fred Taylor?

  That's how you post that?

• 57:10Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, KD, got some bars, and then me, I'm the GOAT.

• 57:15Fred Taylor?

  So you're number one?

• 57:16Shaquille O'Neal?

  Of course.

• 57:17Fred Taylor?

  So basically ChatGPT does not disagree with you. I asked for the top five NBA rappers of all time and it says Shaq Diesel. First NBA player to go platinum with debut album Shakira from Shaq Diesel in 93.

• 57:32Shaquille O'Neal?

  They better have said me.

• 57:33Fred Taylor?

  Booming delivery, old school flow, had features with Biggie and Method Man. Bars plus rings equals certified legend. Then Damon, they got AI on here. Shumpert and a few other guys. Yeah.

• 57:48Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, they're nice.

• 57:48Fred Taylor?

  Webber, C-Webber, Meta.

• 57:50Shaquille O'Neal?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 57:51Fred Taylor?

  But you the big dog.

• 57:52Shaquille O'Neal?

  Of course.

• 57:53Fred Taylor?

  Lord, the big dog.

• 57:54Shaquille O'Neal?

  Anybody who wants some smoke, let me know.

• 57:56Ryan Clark?

  You DJ now, though, you don't even rap no more.

• 57:58Shaquille O'Neal?

  I do it all.

• 57:59Fred Taylor?

  Hey Shaq Funhouse, that's where you need to be.

• 58:03Shaquille O'Neal?

  I do it all.

• 58:04Ryan Clark?

  You are something, man.

• 58:06Shaquille O'Neal?

  I got diss records, I got bars, I got it all. Did you hear my Shannon Sharpe diss record?

• 58:12Channing Crowder?

  Yes.

• 58:13Shaquille O'Neal?

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was like.

• 58:16Fred Taylor?

  But you can't pick on somebody with a list.

• 58:21Channing Crowder?

  He can't go back at you.

• 58:23Ryan Clark?

  He can't make a song.

• 58:24Channing Crowder?

  You can't rhyme every word with "slut" idea.

• 58:30Ryan Clark?

  Shay, I'm not laughing, bro.

• 58:36Ryan Clark?

  Man, put your tongue in your mouth.

• 58:38Shaquille O'Neal?

  All right, so you're Ernie, you're Kenny, and that motherf** is me and Chuck Coman.

• 58:42Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, 100%. Hey, 100% man. I saw Ernie at the Emmys, and you know, last year he received, you know, the war for host, I think he won it again this year. What is it like, and you know, we know some of the things he's dealt with, with family, and what has it been like having him?

• 59:04Ryan Clark?

  Be the person that's in the middle, running that show, facilitating to the three of you.

• 59:09Shaquille O'Neal?

  Because of the respect for Ernie, we know when to go crazy and know how to keep it professional. I only went to TNT because of Ernie. When for my freshman and sophomore year where I was a nobody, where nobody knew me to becoming the biggest thing on my post, not in the city, my little army base, army, Ernie Johnson came and interviewed me.

• 59:31Shaquille O'Neal?

  A guy who I used to watch on TV, came and spent time, me and my family, he was nice to me. So when it came time, oh ESPN want to offer you a team, like, man, I get to sit next to Ernie, it's like a whole special turnaround moment. And I wasn't even thinking about Charles and Ken, I was like, man, I get to be next to the guy that was the first big time guy to interview me, but he's a perfect man. Respectful, nice, caring, professional. Been an honor to sit next to him all these years. And he's a regular man, he goes through ups and downs, you know? Passing of his son, I was there for that moment and, you know, he cried, he was emotional, but, man, he was, he was at work a couple of days later.

• 1:00:15Shaquille O'Neal?

  And that's just true professionalism and he loves his job and after this, he's gonna be doing baseball and soccer and hockey and, you know, when you talk about the word professionalism, they should show his face. Definitely show his face, it's just been an honor to be able to say, I know him and just sit next to him. A wonderful man.

• 1:00:37Ryan Clark?

  What would they say about Big Shaq? How do you want to be remembered when it's all said and done?

• 1:00:42Shaquille O'Neal?

  Shaq was a nice guy.

• 1:00:45Shaquille O'Neal?

  That's it. Because, you know, a kid asked me the other day, how's it feel to be rich? My mama got a big ass house, that's how it feels. Don't care about me. All my kids are well respected, disciplined. Yes sir, no sir. You know, it's one of the greatest compliments I get, man. Talk to your son, your sons and...

• 1:01:11Shaquille O'Neal?

  Fabulous kids, that's it. Like, you know, we live in a world where everybody, you know how much I make. You know, how many cars I got, you know, that shit's not important. Was he nice? When he came on the show, how did he treat Charlie and his crew? Was he nice?

• 1:01:29Shaquille O'Neal?

  How did he treat Alicia when she came downstairs? Did he tell her, "I don't want no motherfucking coffee cake, go take that shit and eat it"? Like, was he, was he, was he nice to her? Right. And that's all, because nothing else mattered. Like, you can have all of this and all of that, but how are you used to the regular man? I heard Muhammad Ali said, "You can judge a man by the way he treats a famous man, same way as he treats a guy that's taking out the garbage." I'm not gonna call him a garbage man, but a guy that's doing his job and taking out the garbage. If you treat him and him the same perp, you're a great man. Like, I like leaving big tips. Thing I've been doing for the last 20 years, how much you want?

• 1:02:07Shaquille O'Neal?

  And I like the people that go, "No, no, I can't answer that." And I'll give them a chance, how much you want? One girl got real smart, "I like $10,000." I'm like, "Well, you're not gonna get $10,000, but I'll give you one." She was smart, I was like, "Ah, I fuck with you."

• 1:02:21Shaquille O'Neal?

  Hell, yeah. I said, "I need that, I ain't gonna give you 10, but I'll give you one." So I like to, because, think about it. You waiting on fucking people, right? And I'm in the same restaurant, and you treating, and you treating this guy that's waiting on you, you treating him like shit. Why? Who the fuck are you? I'm me, and I'm not an asshole. Why the fuck you asshole? I'm, I'm leaving a $1,000 tip plus. Your ass probably gonna leave $20,000, and you treating this man like shit. I just like to, you know, I just like to treat people with honor and respect, because we need each other. I keep going back to Charlie. He shot a lot of fucking specials for me, and he made me fucking look good. I'm here today because of people like fucking Charlie.

• 1:03:04Shaquille O'Neal?

  I don't know how to work that motherfucking camera, right? But people don't understand, we, we need each other. That's athletes, we need the fans, right? Be nice, like, you, you, you need this person, you, you need local police officers, you need military, we, we, we need each other. And I, and my continued message to y'all, stop reading fucking comments. Y'all are doing a wonderful job. We see y'all, the important way. The other way, if they not hating, you ain't doing something right.

• 1:03:34Ryan Clark?

  Say that again.

• 1:03:35Shaquille O'Neal?

  If motherfucker not hating on you, you ain't doing nothing right. And then, what y'all also have to understand, a lot of people gonna use y'all to try to make a name for themselves. Right. Like, that shit be so funny to me. They'll, they'll take one thing you say and try to break it down on they fucking little show, just to try to get to your level. That's what you need, like, you need to... Good thing about people is they always show their hand. They always show their hand, but I hate when they over show their hand. Motherfucker, yeah, I'm not... I, I don't even play your sport, but I know your ass ain't fucking tough.

• 1:04:06Shaquille O'Neal?

  I'm fucking him, so what? He gave me a new perspective on your ass. And now, when I'm looking, now you wanna come get the fuck out of here? I don't wanna hear all that shit. That's why I call, say, "Hey, man, you want me to knock this motherfucker out?" "No, no, no, no, Diesel, stand... You sure? 'Cause this motherfucker trying to play tough now." Yeah. Like, just, just, just, just keep it podcast to podcast. Don't be motherfucking on him, fuck out of here with all that shit.

• 1:04:28Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, when, when it get to that, I, I'll only let it be. Imagine, I wanna say again, and I said it earlier, thank you so much for, for being you, for being authentic, and I have lived the experience of knowing that you're everything that you say you are. And, you know, as a kid that grew up in Louisiana, got to watch you play at LSU, went to LSU, you know, see all the memorabilia, man. You are as real as it gets, man. I'm really grateful.

• 1:04:53Shaquille O'Neal?

  And I wanna say I'm proud of all y'all guys. Keep doing what you're doing, and I hope we get nothing but continued success. I know y'all get mad when y'all see about the bullshit podcast signing for a hundred, two hundred million. I hope y'all get that. I'm wishing that for y'all. Trust me, 'cause y'all, 'cause y'all definitely deserve it, and y'all will get it. And I appreciate you. Call me anytime. Don't stand up with no motherfucking pinstripe pants coming to get mad.

• 1:05:15Channing Crowder?

  Bro, I'm saying, fuck, man. Eddie got the, the front crease.

• 1:05:23Ryan Clark?

  The crease is permanent, chain.

• 1:05:26Ryan Clark?

  That way, I ain't gotta hide it if I'm in a rush.

• 1:05:28Channing Crowder?

  He got the loose, no, I didn't... Say, "I help shack up."

• 1:05:31Ryan Clark?

  Try to help shack up? Man, you ain't that strong.

• 1:05:36Shaquille O'Neal?

  That, man, on that motherfucking brown brown, ain't ya?

• 1:05:39Fred Taylor?

  I just started taking that credit, what?

• 1:05:41Channing Crowder?

  Y'all always say you can't have money.

• 1:05:44Fred Taylor?

  Love you Charlie. Oh yeah, you're getting the medal RC. I'm gonna keep going back to you, you made me look good a lot of times.

• 1:06:15Speaker 05

  Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time.

• 1:06:25Speaker 05

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