“I’m the Black Steph Curry!”: Shaquille O’Neal Once Bet $5000 in a Free Throw Shooting Contest

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal once bet $5000 on a free-throw contest against Sean Evans on his show ‘Hot Ones’

Shaquille O’Neal had a very successful 19-year career in the NBA. During that time, the 7’1 big man won 4x NBA Championships and attained a lot of personal accolades. The Diesel was reckoned as a force in the league, and it was impossible to stop him in the paint.

However, there was one thing that was considered his Achilles Heel. His free throw shooting. Things were so bad that the only method the teams found to slow down O’Neal and throw him off his game was to foul him intentionally and make him shoot free throws.

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Shaq shot a career 52.7% from the charity stripe. However, that never stopped the big man or faltered his confidence. We saw a glimpse of the same when he was on the show, ‘Hot Ones’.

Shaquille O’Neal bet $5000 on free throws!

Having attempted 11,152 free throws in his entire career, one would think Shaq would work on his stroke and get his percentage high. However, his game was thriving even without making shots from the charity stripe, so he never did work on getting that number up.

In 2019, Shaq joined Sean Evans on ‘Hot Ones’, a show where the host has a conversation with his guest over hot wings. During the show, O’Neal bet Evans $5000 that he couldn’t beat the Big Diesel in a free throw contest.

They set a chair as the free throw line and had a kid-size hoop. O’Neal kicked things off, and went 4/4 to begin with. After making his 4th one, Shaq became cocky, and said, “I’m the black Steph Curry!” 

He then closed his eyes and attempted the fifth one, which he rimmed out.

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Evans lost the contest after he missed two free throws, and Shaq kept his $5K with himself.

Shaq and Spicy Food

Shaquille O’Neal has always claimed that nothing can stop him. One time, he took on the ‘One Chip Challenge’ at the TNT studios. Needless to say, Shaq fell short to the one small chip. However, to make up for it, the big man took on the task to come on ‘Hot Ones’. He claimed that nothing could best him after he lost to the chip.

However, that was easier said than done. The big man couldn’t hold his ground, and lost his cool when he took on the hot wing with the sauce, ‘The Bomb’.

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Despite suffering multiple losses on the front, Shaq would never admit that spicy food gets to him, and would never hesitate to try more spicy food.