“Million Videos on My Phone of Me Scaring Shaquille O’Neal”: Candace Parker Confesses Her ‘Annual Ritual of Pranking’ 7ft 1″ Legend

WNBA veteran Candace Parker recently appeared in an exclusive interview with Clutchpoints’ Joey Mistretta. The Las Vegas Aces star spoke about a range of topics, including her time on TNT, alongside Shaquille O’Neal. Asked about a few funny stories about the LA Lakers legend, Candace confessed that her phone was full of photos in which she was pranking Shaq.

Parker claimed that some of her favorite moments included her scaring Shaq, who himself was a bit of a fan of practical jokes. Parker and O’Neal are close friends, with the latter showing up to the Aces’ recent victory over the Seattle Storm. Currently, in her 16th season, Parker has won the WNBA twice and was the Finals MVP in 2016. 

Candace Parker confesses her love for pranking Shaquille O’Neal

One of the many things Shaq is famous for is his sense of humor. His reputation as a practical joker comes as no surprise considering his antics on TNT over the years, particularly alongside his friend and former rival Charles Barkley.

When asked about some “funny stories” involving O’Neal, Parker claimed that some of her best memories from set involved pranking the former Lakers. Candace talked about a range of ingenious tricks that she had up her sleeve, mostly involving popping out of unlikely places:

“Let’s see… I would say Shaq is one of those guys that’s like, he’s a practical joker. And so, every year I make it my goal to scare him in the studio somewhere. I have a million videos on my phone of me scaring him [Shaquille O’Neal] in the studio. Like I’ll pop out behind the sound machine, or I’ll pop behind the curtain or I’ll be behind the makeup chair and like, pop out, and he’ll scream. So that’s probably some of my favorite moments. Literally every year I have a video of me scaring him.”

Parker claimed that she had hundreds of photos and videos from the times she had pranked Shaq. Parker claimed that this was a regular occurrence, and she made at least one video a year of herself pranking O’Neal.

Candace Parker once dunked on Shaquille O’Neal on live TV

There is little doubt that Parker actually dunking on Shaq in real life might prove impossible. Considering the size difference between the two, it might not matter that Shaq hasn’t been playing since well more than a decade. 

However, on NBA 2K, O’Neal proved no match for Parker. She used herself in the game to dunk over Shaq and had a hilarious response as well.

She claimed that Shaq “was too little,” leading to laughter from the rest of the cast. Shaquille himself looked ready to burst but seemingly controlled his annoyance.