Following a marvelous performance against the Golden State Warriors, GG Jackson made the headlines for an unexpected reason. He expressed excitement upon hearing the voice of Shaquille O’Neal in the post-match interview, giving rise to a heartwarming NBA moment. After that, the Memphis Grizzlies youngster even roasted Charles Barkley, indicating a preference for winners.
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Jackson became an overnight phenomenon following his contributions to a 116-107 home win against the Warriors. The youngest active NBA player came off the bench to score 23 points while registering 6 rebounds and 1 assist in 29 minutes. His ‘coming-out party’ caught the eyes of the spectators who were left beyond impressed with the display.
TNT was quick to take notice of the 19-year-old rookie as Inside the NBA crew interviewed him after the match. Upon hearing the 4x champion Shaq’s voice during the interaction, the South Carolina-born expressed a mixture of shock and surprise. Soon after that when the 1993 MVP Barkley joined the conversation, the Grizzlies power forward remained rather calm and composed.
The disparity in reaction intrigued viewers, something that prompted reporter Jared Greenberg to reveal the underlying reason behind it. He admitted to asking Jackson why he was not starstruck by the 60-year-old, following which he announced, “‘I like winners’. I promise you he said that. I am a journalist with integrity,”. Clearly, the journalist was shocked by the 19-year-old’s words, and it really is hard to blame him for it. Despite not having won a championship during his NBA career, he still stands among the greatest to ever do it. So the youngster’s words, although humorous in nature, were hardly the kind of thing anyone would expect.
“I like winners”
Jared Greenberg explains why Memphis Grizzlies rookie was so shocked to be interviewed by Shaq on Monday… and why he wasn’t as starstruck by Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/N7DIJKEgsG
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 19, 2024
Despite the seeming disrespect, Greenberg might well have mentioned this to mockingly belittle Barkley for failing to win a ring in his career. This occasionally served as a running joke on the TNT sets as the reaction of the production team in this instance proved precisely that. So, Jackson possibly had never directed such a harsh statement toward the 11x All-Star as the journalist used him as a shield to knock down Chuck.
Jared Greenberg also shed light on the reaction of GG Jackson to Shaquille O’Neal’s words
The 6ft 9″ youngster’s reaction sparked from a misunderstanding as Greenberg mentioned, “He was under the impression that he was doing a post-game interview with one of the local Grizzlie affiliates in Memphis and when he heard Ernie [Johnson]’s voice, he said, ‘Maybe there’s just something wrong with my headset’. Then when he heard Shaq, he was like, ‘Oh, this is TNT'”.
This further showcased how the teenager never expected to rise to fame so rapidly following one performance. After all, as a second-round pick in the draft, Jackson only received the opportunity to represent the franchise due to the injury concerns of the team. So, to have such a massive honor despite only being a rotation player for the Grizzlies must have been a massive surprise for Jackson. However, it is astronomically difficult to say that he doesn’t deserve every bit of the glory coming his way at the moment.
The NBA community thus is now bound to keep an eye on the youngster as he aims to break into the starting five with time. There are still many challenges that he will have to overcome, but, he has displayed the character to face them head-on.
