Since hanging up his shoes in 2000, Charles Barkley has appeared on the NBA on TNT show as a consummate entertainer. Despite being bitter rivals on the court, Shaquille O’Neal and the Chuckster have developed a phenomenal friendship since their retirement. They have been on Inside the NBA together since 2011 and their chemistry on national TV is simply the best a viewer could experience. Barkley calling out Shaq’s bad takes and Shaq boasting about his four championships to prove a point, never gets old. In 2019, the pair went against each other in a 1 vs 1 game inside the studio itself and Sir Charles did something against the big man which nobody saw coming.
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In 1999, a year before Barkley retired and Shaq won his maiden championship, things got ugly between the two on the court. In a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets, Barkley was fouled in the paint. A furious Chuck took the ball and threw it at the Big Diesel who in turn threw a punch at him. A big fight between the two broke out on live TV and their moms had to call them later in the locker room to even things out. Chuck and Shaq both went to dinner the same night to make up things following their mom’s instructions.
Charles Barkley fooled Shaquille O’Neal with a trick shot over him
In 2019, Inside the NBA hosted their Hollywood guest Adam Sandler in the studio. A segment with the actor on the show saw a one-on-one game between Barkley and Shaq. With the ball in his hand and his back towards the rim, Chuck went against big Shaq in the paint. He took three dribbles and shot the ball with his left hand without even looking at the basket. Call it a stroke of luck or the confidence of a legendary player, the ball went in. Shaq was not just beaten by Barkley, but also fooled by a clever trick shot.
The shot drew a big laugh from the crew and the hosts of the show. Shaq afterwards went against a much smaller Kenny Smith, who was pretty stunned by Chucks’s trick shot. Shaq scored on the two-time NBA Champion, perhaps, to compensate for the earlier mishap. Later on, Smith told the 76ers legend, “First time I’ve seen you shoot in 20 years.” The 1993 MVP had earlier confessed on Jimmy Kimmel’s show that he hadn’t touched a basketball since he retired.
Mighty Chuck defeated Shaq in 405 lbs bench press
Shaq and Chuck have gone against each other on several occasions. When it was on the NBA court, things were definitely intensely competitive. However, whenever they have gone head to head off the court, it has always resulted in a hilarious moment. One time, Charles with Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg and O’Neal with his friend Dwyane the Rock Johnson went against each other for a bench press competition for a movie promotion.
In the first three rounds, both the Round Mound of Rebound and the Big Aristotle went for 135-pound, 225-pound, and 315-pound lifts and completed them somehow. Anybody would think that O’Neal would win the challenge at this point due to his size and weight advantage. But the viewers were up for a surprise. The former 76ers star embarrassed the four-time NBA champion by benching 405 lbs, which the big man couldn’t pull off.
However, it was later revealed that Barkley had fake weights for the last two stints. But that didn’t stop him from calling Shaq a “sore loser.”
