Shaquille O’Neal and The TNT crew were left in splits after the recent edition of Shaqtin The Fool. With Charles missing from the show, it was all left to Shaq and Kenny to bring the laughs back on the show.
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The recent edition of Shaqtin was a “2024 All-Star special”. With the All-Star Weekend going horrible, everyone knew what to expect from this edition of Shaqtin The Fool. The first four spots on the list were reserved for the skills challenge and the All-Star Game, but the first-place blooper was a rather unexpected selection.
Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics would be awarded the first position for his poor showing in the NBA Dunk Contest. Brown is a known high-flyer, but dunking in a competition doesn’t seem to be Brown’s forte. Even though Brown made some decent dunks, his dunk over streamer Kai Cenat was especially ‘bad’.
What made matters worse for Brown was that he could not make the dunk in his first attempt. Replaying his failed dunk, Shaq commented, “Mac jumped a standing Shaq, and JB[ Jalen Brown] jumped a sitting streamer.” The TNT crew even placed a graphic over Kai Cenat, calling the YouTube personality “above average toddler”.
Even though Brown made it into the contest’s final round, most people didn’t quite see eye to eye with the judges. While on the show, Kenny Smith did try to defend Brown for his ‘no-look’ dunk attempt. Talking about it, he said,
” I saw Jalen Brown practise that video. He posted it…He did the Dee Brown…..He did it in practice, he caught the ball and dunked it.”
Even though Kenny did his best to play devil’s advocate for Brown, it was not working. Shaq and Vince Carter were already falling out of their seats, as Shaq called upon a member of his crew to sit down on a chair, so he could dunk over him.
Brown gives an insight into his Dee Brown dunk
Jalen Brown was the runner-up in this year’s dunk contest. Even though the Celtics guard came in second place, the critics didn’t quite think that Brown deserved to be part of the final round. Many believe that the judging was mostly unfair, as Brown was executing ‘easy dunks’, while the rest of the field were going outside their comfort zone.
While some dunks were decent, one of Brown’s dunks stands out as being possibly the ‘worst dunk’ of this year’s contest. In an attempt to pay homage to former Celtics guard Dee Brown, Jalen would attempt his 1991 no-look dunk. Even though Jalen was able to execute the same during practice, he was unable to land the dunk when it mattered the most.
It would be later clarified by Brown that the dunk was indeed meant to be a tribute to the former Celtic, but he was unable to cover his eyes in time. It was only after Brown had landed on the ground that he managed to cover his eyes, resulting in the dunk being more or less ‘ ruined’.
After the contest, Brown was asked if he would ever consider doing the dunk competition again. Talking to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, Brown revealed, ” If they ask me and nobody else cares to do it, f— it, I’ll do it again.” With the ratings for the dunk contest reaching an all-time low, many believe that Brown’s participation in next year’s competition would only serve to worsen things, not make them better.
