Shaquille O’Neal was quite the prankster back in the day. Even though stories of Shaq’s infamous pranks are well-known among fans, the details of some of the untold stories still manage to blow people’s minds. Recently, NBA legend Tracy McGrady unveiled one such Shaq story, where the big fella went beyond everyone’s wildest imagination just to get a good laugh.
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During his Orlando days, T-Mac used to train at Shaq’s house and the two would also hang out very often. One particular night when they were hanging out, McGrady found out that there really isn’t any limit on how far Shaq would go to execute a perfect prank.
“Shaq just used to always have these silly and outrageous things that he will request someone to do and give them like five or 10 thousand dollars,” the 45-year-old recounted in a recent Instagram post.
T-Mac revealed that as they were coming back from downtown Orlando one day, they made a stop at a Walgreens outlet. Meanwhile, Shaq asked a man, who used to hang out with him a lot, to strip naked and run across the store for a certain amount of money. McGrady didn’t disclose the monetary compensation offered. But surely it was something substantial because the man obliged.
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“Sure enough, I’m sitting in the car and the dude took his clothes off and ran into Walgreens naked and ran out,” T-Mac added. The seven-time All-Star further said that it was the craziest thing he’s ever seen.
While it could be a surreal experience for many, for Shaq, it was just another day. These kinds of practical jokes are right up his alley and there is a plethora of such pranks that he has played over the years.
Shaquille O’Neal has an insane prank catalog
While it’s almost impossible to list out every prank played by the big fella, here are some of his most legendary pranks as detailed by some NBA veterans. During his appearance on Podcast P with Paul George, Matt Barnes recalled Shaq’s most outrageous prank.
He said, “He (Shaq) used to f**k with this dude named Lou Amundson…They had a back-and-forth thing and one time, Shaq shoots around; Shaq put Liu’s mouthpiece in his tights and put it up underneath his n*ts…Everyone knew but Lou…Bro, he put that sh*t in his mouth, everyone died.”
Gary Payton was a witness to another Shaq special. During his appearance on The Big Podcast, he said that Devean George, who was rookie on the Lakers at the time, was the victim of the prank.
The reason why Shaq targeted him was because he didn’t like George and wanted to give him the rookie treatment. “So, he [Shaq] kept using the bathroom in a bucket. He just kept doing all kinds of stuff in a bucket. He kept it going for a week,” Payton recalled.
After the setup, Shaq did what he planned on doing for a week. Payton said, “So Devean before practice, or after practice, used to always use the bathroom. So, he had got showered up, everything…so he [Shaq] went, and he had a big ol’ bucket, a container. And put the lid on it and he kept using the bathroom… [Shaq] went in the closet, got the bucket…and he just dumped it all on him [George].”
While it’s fun hearing from other people how these pranks played out, one can’t even imagine how it would feel to be on the receiving end of some of these.
