Shaquille O’Neal never seems to get bored of trolling his fans and coworkers. In his career as an NBA player and an analyst spanning over three decades, Shaq has garnered a reputation for “punking” people. Recently, the Lakers legend would get a taste of his own medicine, as he would get dunked on while shooting a video for his Instagram.
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The entire incident began with Shaq posting a challenge on his Instagram. In the video, he can be seen wearing a “Shaq For President” t-shirt, as he presented a challenge to his 34 million followers on Instagram,
“Hey, I am Shaq. Anyone who can dunk on me, I’ll give you a million dollars cash.”
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Just as the big man finished his announcement, he got dunked on by none other than “Big Naija”. Abiodun Adegoke or Big Naija, as he is popularly called, is a Nigerian amateur basketball player. Adegoke actually out measures Shaq by almost a foot, as the Nigerian native stands at 7’11. Aided by his height, Naija easily dunked on the 7’1 Lakers legend for the cash money.
Shaq posted the video on his Instagram, clearly as a joke, captioning it, “I got dunked on by @bignaija“.The video would even elicit a reaction from NBA legend and TNT analyst, Jamal Crawford. Crawford would react to the hilarious post with a string of laughing emojis.
Jamal Crawford ain’t falling for this again pic.twitter.com/58zW5daqhZ
— What are NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) March 24, 2024
Crawford’s reaction is completely understandable because he was on the receiving end of a similar challenge from Shaq. The former Clipper had recently engaged in a ‘million dollar’ bet with Shaq on a Nuggets-Suns game, which took place at the start of March. Shaq would end up losing the bet. When the time came to pay up, Shaq would produce wads of ‘Shaq dollars’, reminding Crawford that he had never promised him real money.
Shaq’s history of not paying his debts
This wasn’t the first time that Shaq hadn’t cleared his debts from a bet. Shaq seems to have found a sense of pleasure in trolling his fellow teammates/colleagues through placing ‘fake’ bets with them. Back in 2023, Shaq would place an interesting bet on the NCAA Championship game between Georgia and TCU.
Shaq had bet against Georgia, claiming that he would eat a horned frog on live television if he lost. To no one’s surprise, Georgia dominated TCU, winning 65-7. After TCU’s humiliating loss against Georgia, O’Neal came ready to the TNT set with what he claimed was “fried frog legs”.
Upon closer enquiry, Adam Lefkoe would reveal that what Shaq had eaten weren’t frog legs, but fried chicken instead. This behaviour from O’Neal has become pretty common, as he tends to never stand true to his bets. If the tables were turned, we all know that O’Neal would ensure that he was paid in full for his bets.