The entertainment of the in-season tournament sustains a little longer after the final buzzer of the first semi-final. The Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton joined TNT’s Inside the NBA crew after securing a place in the competition’s final in Las Vegas. During that post-match interaction, Shaquille O’Neal fumbled as he mistook the 23-year-old for Trae Young before blaming it on the surroundings.
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The 4x champion wanted to praise the point guard, referring to one of his statements to his colleague, Kenny Smith. Right at that moment, the 51-year-old caused a blunder as he got confused in front of Haliburton. “I told Kenny, I said, ‘Kenny, Trae is the real deal,'” he stated as the entire crew took notice of Diesel’s mistake on live television.
Following this, Ernie Johnson pulled Shaq’s leg, mockingly mentioning, “So is Tyrese,” as everyone shared a laugh. Tyrese also did not mind the mistake of the 7’1 sports analyst as he could not contain his laughter after Ernie’s response. O’Neal attempted his best to make up for it as he blamed it on the location, highlighting, “Ernie, it ain’t me, it’s the damn cannabis behind me”.
Shaq calls Tyrese Haliburton “Trae Young”
“It’s that damn cannabis behind me!” pic.twitter.com/Z5SeAZfKml
— Oh no he didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) December 8, 2023
Despite the sarcasm, Shaq had the right intentions as he wanted to shed light on the brilliance of Tyrese on the court. The 2023 All-Star produced yet another magical night against his home-state team, the Milwaukee Bucks, in his team’s 119-128 semi-final win. He registered 27-7-15 in 37 minutes on the night to retain his place in the league as one of the only two players this season to average 20-10.
So, the astonishing rise of Haliburton in Indiana has been of particular interest to sports analysts with Shaq being one of them. The 2000 MVP wanted to put the limelight on the youngster but made a mockery of himself in the process. This moment thus gets added to the ongoing list of the times when the big man failed miserably to memorize names.
Shaquille O’Neal’s struggle with names continue
Sometime back, O’Neal received criticism from Bones Hyland for not knowing how to pronounce his surname. Shaq was on the verge of calling him ‘Hill-end,’ before taking assistance from Ernie to learn the correct way. It offended the Los Angeles Clippers player as he claimed, “I feel like they do it on purpose on TNT”.
Not only on this occasion, but the 15x All-Star had done it time and again throughout his career. Once he produced Victor Oladipo‘s last name as “Oladipio,” as the crew joked about it later on. Another time, he became so hung up on Pascal Siakam‘s surname that he forgot his first name while attempting to highlight him.
Thus, his mistake in front of Tyrese came across as no surprise for the league’s supporters. Luckily, the atmosphere around the entire arena helped manage the damage this time around. All in all, Shaq’s gamble paid off in Sin City giving rise to yet another unforgettable scenario.
