“Shaq’s not a hater, he’s just petty!”: Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley roast Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal for his takes on modern big men

Tonoy Sengupta | 29/05/2021
Shaquille O’Neal revealed on NBAonTNT that he has plans to return to wrestling in the near future: “Soon, this summer”

Charles Barkley calls Shaq petty during a hilarious back-and-forth between the Lakers legend and Kenny Smith. 

The cast of TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’ gets along more often than not. However, frankly, it is when the cast is squabbling with each other, that the show is at its funniest.

Usually, it is Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley going at each other, with Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson acting as mediators on middle ground. But, in the most recent episode of this beloved show, it seems the formula has been changed just a tad bit.

When the Chuckster asked Smith a question about his playing career, he had a seemingly off-beat answer. And let’s just say the Diesel absolutely did not agree with it.

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“He’s petty”: Charles Barkley hilariously roasts Shaq, after a disagreement between him Kenny Smith

So, what was this disagreement about you ask?

Well, Chuck asked the Jet who was one of those unique players on his former teams, who he could go to and talk about anything. And in response, after taking a moment, the former player started to say himself.

As soon as he started, Shaq not so discreetly started crumpling a piece of paper next to his microphone, which went over the audio of Kenny Smith.

 

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In response, the panelist responded with, “Really Shaq, don’t be a hater”. And as the Lakers legend started to send a retort, Chuck immediately responded with, “First of all he’s not a hater. He’s petty.”

Much like the audience of the show, this sent Ernie Johnson into a fit of laughter at the time. Soon though, Shaquille O’Neal voiced out why he disagreed, claiming that Vernon Maxwell was the one who owned that role.

And in a beautiful sense of harmony, Charles Barkley and the Diesel actually agreed with each other. We just feel a bit bad that, this truce had to come at the cost of Kenny Smith.

Also Read: When Ice Cube predicted that LeBron James and his Lakers would rule Los Angeles over Paul George and co

Post Edited By: Amulya Shekhar
Charles Barkley Ernie Johnson Inside The NBA Kenny Smith NBA nba on tnt NBA playoffs Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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