44 Weeks After Commenting on Adam Levine’s Cheating Scandal, Shaquille O’Neal Advocates for 5ft 11″ Popstar’s ‘Silky Smooth Jumper’

Nithin Joseph | 23/08/2023
44 Weeks After Commenting on Adam Levine’s Cheating Scandal, Shaquille O’Neal Advocates for 5ft 11″ Popstar’s ‘Silky Smooth Jumper’

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most popular celebrity athletes in the world, and as such has made many friends. One of them is pop star Adam Levine. Levine, who is the lead singer of Maroon 5, has been close with Shaq for quite a while. Around 44 weeks ago, Big Diesel had some advice for Levine, after he was caught up in a cheating scandal. But now, he has taken to Instagram to praise Levine and shared a video of the 5’11” star’s smooth jump shot.

In 2022, giving his two cents on his podcast, The Big Podcast, Shaq talked about the Levine scandal and said that cheating wasn’t worth it. The four-time NBA Champion himself has admitted that he was a serial cheater. However, he realized that it wasn’t worth it, as it cost him a family. For the most part, it looks like Levine took his advice. And now, Shaq can take some advice from Levine about how he can get a silky jumper.

Shaquille O’Neal is in awe of Adam Levine’s silk smooth jump shot, sharing it on Instagram

Recently, Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine was captured playing basketball. During the workout, he started hitting some jump shots. And, to be fair to Levine the shots were flying in, almost like he was a pro player. In fact, the shot was so “silky smooth”, that even grabbed the attention of NBA legends Shaquille O’Neal.

Taking to Instagram, Shaq shared the video of Levine hitting the jumper. Clearly, he’s impressed by the 5’11” star’s ability to shoot from range. Something he struggled to do throughout his career. Over the course of his 20 seasons in the NBA, The Big Aristotle gained a reputation as a terrible shooter.

He never really shot from beyond the arc, only scoring a three-pointer once in his career. As such, he had a measly .045 three-point percentage. But, what was worse was his free-throw shooting. Shaq attempted at least nine free throws per game, but only converted about 52%. Thus, making him one of the worst shooters in NBA history.

 

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It’s not obvious that Shaq didn’t have video footage of Levine’s jumper for reference when he was still in the league. Who knows? Maybe he would have attempted a few more three-pointers and made some more free throws if he did.

Despite being a terrible shooter, Shaq claims he is the black Stephen Curry

Shaquille may have been a bad shooter, but his favorite player in the NBA is undoubtedly the greatest shooter of all time, Stephen Curry. Since his retirement, Shaq has attempted a lot of shots, and more often than not they go in. He’s become so good at it, that he even refers to himself as the “black” Steph Curry.

Jokes aside, Shaq really has been working on his shooting form. It would have been incredible to see him playing in today’s NBA. After all, combine the size and athleticism from his prime with his current shooting and you have an even more dominant force.

Post Edited By: Pritam Priyedarshi
Adam Levine Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Nithin Joseph

Nithin is a content writer at The SportsRush. Like his favorite athlete Kobe Bryant, the company has helped Nithin elevate his writing skills to a whole new level, especially as an NBA content writer. With over 1500 articles to his name, Nithin's love for the sport knows no bounds. And, as he continues to watch the sport on a daily basis, he hopes his fascination with the NBA, especially the Miami Heat will inspire more and more readers to give the sport a chance. Perhaps, one day making basketball in India as big as it is in the United States.

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