WATCH: Charles Barkley Left Surprised as Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith Troll Him with an Alligator

‘Inside the NBA’ planned an elaborate joke on their resident analyst, Charles Barkley. The 11-time All-Star is in his 25th year with TNT, but since Shaquille O’Neal joined the podium in 2011, Barkley’s life has become riddled with pranks. This time though, Shaq had an accomplice in Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith.

During the half-time show of the Lakers – Mavericks game, O’Neal and Smith began their covert operation. The responsible pranksters began by coyly clearing Barkley’s table to avoid any property damage. “What’s he drinking in his cup?” Shaq asked Kenny. “Why don’t you take his cup?”

‘The Jet’ enthusiastically obliged, hitting Chuck with a “Gimme that,” before nonchalantly switching topics. The two-time championship-winning point guard threw O’Neal an alley oop with the question, “Who coaches your daughter?”

“Oh yeah, Florida Gators,” Me’Arah O’Neal’s father responded. Barkley was confused by the elaborate performance but he would soon understand what his esteemed colleagues were cooking up. Two seconds after Shaq said “Gators“, a rather large toy alligator fell from the ceiling, right on top of Barkley.

Smith and O’Neal burst into laughter like they had just pulled off their senior prank. Barkley was initially startled but once he realized that he was being trolled, the 61-year-old couldn’t help but laugh too.

“That is the largest thing we’ve ever dropped out of the ceiling,” Ernie Johnson commented as TNT cut to a slow-motion action replay of Sir Charles’ reaction.

EJ was right on the money about the alligator being the largest item to fall from the ceiling at Studio J. But avid fans of the show are well aware that this isn’t the only time that his colleagues have bombarded Barkley with objects.

During the 2024 Playoffs, Chuck was goaded into giving one of his classic ‘guarantees’ about the OKC vs New Orleans series. As soon as Barkley had finished his prophesizing, a sea of table tennis balls rained down on him from the Studio J ceiling.

It’s a tradition of sorts on ‘Inside the NBA’, where along with analysis, the crew works tirelessly to innovate new methods of annoying Sir Charles. When it isn’t ping pong balls, the former NBA MVP gets struck with rubber ducks, or in the most recent case, with a four foot long rubber alligator.

With every passing season, the objects hurled at Chuck seem to be getting bigger. While it certainly makes for an entertaining segment, we sincerely hope that Barkley is well-insured before the next iteration of this iconic prank.