The NBA is home to a bunch of entertainers. But the two biggest entertainers to grace the community aren’t active players. That honor might just belong to former NBA superstars Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.
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The duo forms one-half of the regular crew of Inside the NBA, TNT’s headliner act in NBA broadcasting. And their antics are definitely a factor that draws in the viewers. The “punditry” isn’t really thought-stimulating.
A common factor binding the two might also just be their shared aptitude toward food. While the fat-shaming jokes between the two are almost a daily occurrence, the love the duo shares for food remains unabashed.
Charles Barkley even went to the extent of getting tattooed to permanently mark his love for food. The source of the story is Shaquille O’Neal. But clearly, it wasn’t a proud moment for the Round Mount of Rebound. Superman was aware of Barkley’s kryptonite and decided to expose Chuck on live television.
Shaq mocked Charles Barkley with having a $5 footlong tattoo on his back.
Shaq caught Chuck in a vulnerable moment during Inside the NBA. While Chuck was professing his love for Pizza to Ernie Johnson, The Big Diesel caught on to the conversation and added up with wild exaggeration to embarrass a stunned Barkley.
The former Lakers superstar mocked Chuck and his love for food by pushing the limits of exaggeration in typical Big Diesel style. O’Neal implied on air that Barkley loved Pizza and footlongs so much that he has them tattooed on him.
“That’s true, he loves Pizza” interjected Shaq to start his verbal assault on Chuck. “Cause back in the locker room, when you take your shirt off, he got tattoos of all different types of Pizza. And, a $5 footlong on his back” the Big Diesel went on to add.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/T8-4GI5AuNc
Charles Barkley was best not pleased and his face gives away nothing. And unlike most occasions, the Chuckster didn’t seem to have a comeback to Shaq either.
This moment is yet another that captures why the entire world adores the Shaq-Chuck dynamic on TNT. And it comes as no surprise that the duo has been locked down with lucrative long-term contracts by TNT to be staple features of the NBA experience.
Shaq and Chuck along with Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith penned long-term contracts with TNT.
In October 2022, it was made public that the quartet was there to stay on with TNT. All four of the regular team got a big paycheck each and committed to TNT for the long run.
Barkley’s contract for instance was rumored to be around $200 million for a ten-year period. Assuming O’Neal also drew a similar paycheck, that is a considerable investment made by the Turner Sports network.
But as listed earlier, there is enough evidence to explain such an expenditure. This is certainly a case where an investment makes complete sense. Who knows, the investment might get an instant return on a night more of Chuck’s tattoos are revealed to the world.
