“Shaquille O’Neal Is Crying Here But Laughed At Anthony Davis?”: Lakers Legend’s Questionable Instagram Post Stirs Up Controversy

Shaquille O’Neal has never minced his words when it’s come his takes on NBA basketball. Given that he spent his best years with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996 to 2004, the purple and gold hold a special place in his heart. So, when the Playoffs arrive, it’s understandable when he establishes the fact that he will be rooting for the purple and gold. Unfortunately, he did get a bit sidetracked recently when the topic of Anthony Davis and his concussion came up.

When he’s not taking about basketball, the ‘Big Aristotle’ is incredibly active on social media, especially Instagram. He’s constantly putting up stories on the app along with random posts that could either feature his face or be an endorsement for one of the many companies he’s affiliated with.

Most recently, Shaq took to Instagram to share a certain type of video that seemed to rub Lakers fans the wrong way.

Shaquille O’Neal cries for a random man but laughs at AD and his injury

Anthony Davis left Game 5 of the Warriors-Lakers series in a wheelchair after he experienced concussion type symptoms following an elbow from Kevon Looney. Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley got wind of this on ‘Inside the NBA; and immediately made light of the situation, as they usually do.

Shaq even crumpled up a piece of paper to reference Davis’s injury prone history. NBA fans didn’t appreciate this as they called him class-less and berated him and Chuck for poking fun at a man who could’ve suffered a much worse fate than a headache.

To add insult to injury, an astute fan drew parallels between how Shaq handled the AD injury compared to how he handled watching a random man ride his bicycle into a tree.

Damn Shaq laughed at AD’s injury but is crying for a random guy? Interesting pic.twitter.com/GB5DFgKwC8

— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) May 14, 2023

Shaquille O’Neal’s career ended due to an Achilles injury

Shaquille O’Neal signed a two-year contract with the Boston Celtics in the summer 2010 after a short stint in Cleveland alongside LeBron James. Unfortunately for the 4x NBA champion, he couldn’t hold up his end of the two-year contract as he would suffer a career ending injury in his first year with the Celts.

Shaq’s Achilles injury would allow him to play merely 37 games and average 9.2 points per game in those games during the 2010-11 season. After 19 years, he would retire in the summer of 2011 and join the ‘Inside the NBA’ cast.