Shaquille O’Neal seems to love engaging in public nudity, or so it would seem from the outrageous underwear bets he’s lost in the past.
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Shaq earned a reputation as one of the goofiest NBA players of all time during his playing days. He’d put on clown shows for his teammates and play practical jokes on them all the time.
A huge part of the Shaq persona was being a comic relief wherever he went. That’s the reason why all of his old teammates, rivals and even critics seem to love him. 10 years after retirement, Shaq is still firmly in the public conscious as an analyst on TNT.
O’Neal took over this role immediately after his retirement from professional basketball in 2011. His initial days were a little drab as he tried to set proper chemistry with Kenny, Ernie and Chuck.
But once things smoothed over with time, the crew has grown into unequivocally the best sports show on TV. Inside provides basketball fans with entertainment even on days when TNT broadcasts blowout wins or low-scoring games.
Shaquille O’Neal appeared on TNT in his boxers after Kevin Love hit a gamewinner vs Clippers in 2012
As mentioned before, Shaq seems to love showing his bare body off. There are several incidents through the course of his career when he’s invaded teammates hitting the shower. He’s arrived at team practices butt naked on the practice court too.
One of the safest ways to ease Shaq into his Inside the NBA tenure was getting him to make another underwear bet. And so it transpired that the Lakers legend bet on Blake Griffin outplaying Kevin Love in a regular season game.
As things turned out, Griffin went for 21 points and 10 rebounds with 5 turnovers. Kevin Love, on the other hand, had 17 points and 14 boards, but also hit the game-winning 3-pointer.
The crew decided that Shaq had lost the bet, and he thus had to strip down into his boxers.