Shaquille O’Neal’s on-court dominance as one of the greatest big men in NBA history will forever be etched in league folklore. He was a serial winner. But off the court, his passion for winning was matched only by his love for pranks. The Diesel loved to laugh and would go to some outrageous lengths to make it happen, both for himself and everyone around him.
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Those who follow the NBA regularly won’t be surprised by this. O’Neal has made a living doing some of the dumbest things ever on Inside the NBA, just to get his audience and colleagues to crack a smile. However, those bits are no match for the things he did off-camera. The four-time champion would sometimes take things to a much grosser level.
Shaq took a trip down memory lane in a recent episode of The Big Podcast. He wasn’t reminiscing about his glory days as a Laker or his championship win with Miami. Instead, he and his guest, comedian Bill Bellamy, recalled the time Shaq pranked one of their mutual friends who drove a Ferrari.
“I will never forget. His name was Brian something. You put doo doo in his car or something. In the Ferrari,” said Bellamy, who could barely contain his laughter. Shaq couldn’t control himself either, as he revealed the whole story behind this dirty prank.
“He came out, right? He came out and said, ‘Hey man, somebody put sh** in my car.’ We was like, ‘I don’t know, must have been that dude walking the dog.’ He got mad and tried to fight. ‘Ain’t no dog gonna climb in my Ferrari and take a sh** in the middle of the seat!’
By this point, both men were nearly on the floor, howling. Shaq added, “Confession time is up. I did it,” which proved that he may be a prankster, but he’s not a liar. It would be easy to chalk this up as a one-time incident for O’Neal. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time “doo doo” has made its way into one of his comedy routines.
Ex-NBA star Devean George once learned — or rather smelled — the disgusting side of O’Neal. When they were teammates at the Lakers, Shaq pranked George by putting doo doo in his sneaker ahead of a game. George never retaliated, because honestly, why would he want to throw hands with the Shaq-Fu master?
And that wasn’t even the worst of it. Matt Barnes told Paul George on Podcast P that O’Neal once pranked Lou Amundson by putting his mouthpiece under his nuts for an entire shootaround. When Amundson put the mouthpiece in moments before the game, his entire squad fell to the floor in laughter. He had just tasted Diesel’s goods.
O’Neal’s legacy isn’t just built on championships and shattered backboards; it’s also cemented by the chaos he brought to every locker room. He made people laugh just as easily as he made defenders look helpless, and somehow, both seemed to bring him equal joy. There will never be another quite like The Big Pranksta.
