Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are two peas in a pod. Despite their vastly different sizes and style of play, the two hold the utmost significance in NBA history. Barkley, though a ring-less legend, changed how the league perceived relatively smaller forwards.
Advertisement
His post-work and rebounding abilities laid the path for players like Draymond Green to succeed. On the other hand, O’Neal, a 4-time champion, was dominance incarnate. His overwhelming strength and size changed so many rules in the league.
These days, the two have become a lot less physical. they prefer talking, albeit aggressively, over duking it out like young athletes. But there was a time when Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley weren’t afraid of brawling between a game. In fact, the fight was violent enough that Shaq’s uncle had to snitch on him and Barkley to their mothers.
Shaquille O’Neal found his uncle on a call with Lucille O’Neal and Charles Barkley’s mom
O’Neal recently made an appearance on the ‘I Am Athletic’ podcast. The 7ft 1″ legend was discussing the need to solve beef with people you respect. To justify his point, he revealed the time he fought a 250lbs Chuck during a Rockets vs Lakers game. After the fight, when Shaq was in the locker room, his uncle, who Shaq refrained from naming, came in with a phone. Lucille O’Neal and Charcey Glenn were on the phone.
Shaq: “He hit me with a ball, and I am sizing him up and I am like ‘I hate to do this but I am gonna have to knock out a legend.'” O’Neal continued, “I am in the locker room, I am not even gonna take a shower. I am f**king him up when we get out to the bus. So my uncle hands me the phone and it’s my mama and his mom on the line. I never knew they were friends. My mama said ‘y’all need to stop that, y’all too legendary.'”
Without any surprise, Shaq obeyed his mother. Despite all his viciousness, O’Neal never disrespected his parents. Especially, Lucille. Needless to say, the two men, urged by their mothers, ended the fight.
Chuck took Shaq out for dinner
After the call, Charles Barkley apparently came over to Shaquille O’Neal, hugged him, and resolved all the animosity they had on the court. In fact, Barkley invited Shaq for dinner that same night and even paid for it.
Shaq: “It wasn’t really a fight scene, because he didn’t want to hit me. I really didn’t want to hit him, I just wanted to tag him. But, you know it was a wild punch. He tackled me and we lay there. We went out for dinner after the game. See! A lot of people didn’t know that we went out to eat after the game. It was all marketers!”
It’s fortunate that Lucille and Charcey intervened. The two legends have now become two of the most entertaining TV personalities. Their presence on NBA on TNT has certainly elevated the level of the show and kept fans delighted for over a decade.
