NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has never shied away from voicing his opinion. Shaq reached four finals within a five-year window under head coach Phil Jackson during his time with the Lakers. As a result, O’Neal views Jackson very highly when it comes to the best coaches of all time. Shaq viewed Jackson’s accomplishments as one of a kind. He even went on to say that he’ll kiss the feet of any coach who achieved the same thing. Years later, Steve Kerr’s success with the Warriors made O’Neal’s comments resurface.
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During the late 2010s, the Warriors evolved into a dynasty once Kerr took over as head coach. Golden State didn’t just appear in four finals in five years, they were in five straight finals from 2015-2019. Nothing gets past the internet as fans begin to recover Shaq’s comments to Kerr. As the diligent man O’Neal is, he acknowledged his loss in the bet. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to admit his defeat. He said,
“I guess I’ll see you in fear factor, and make sure it’s kraft cheese lol.”
@SteveKerr I guess I’ll c u in fear factor, and make sure it’s kraft cheese lol
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) July 16, 2019
In O’Neal’s comments solidifying the bet, he mentioned that it would take place on the hit show Fear Factor. In an interview with ESPN years ago, Shaq’s confidence exuded in his comments. “If a coach takes a team to the Finals four out of five years I’ll kiss his feet, on Fear Factor, with cheese on it,” Shaq said. “I will. It’ll never be done again.”
Ironically, Kerr isn’t the only coach to accomplish this achievement. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra led Miami to four NBA Finals from 2011-2014. According to Shaq’s comments, he’d have to kiss both of their feet. However, Kerr spared him from committing to the embarrassing moment.
Steve Kerr’s response to Shaquille O’Neal
Kerr could’ve kept silent but he responded to O’Neal on X. The Warriors head coach suggested that the two act like the bet never existed so O’Neal could spare himself the embarrassment.
“Hey Shaq, I’m going to do us both a favor and pretend that David West didn’t send this to me this morning,” Kerr said. The 9x champion could have ignored the comments since Shaq made a completely one-sided bet. Being a good sport, he addressed them while creating an out for both parties.
Ultimately, O’Neal didn’t have to lick Kerr’s feet and saved himself the humiliation. Shaq is still vocal in his opinion but learned a valuable lesson about how his words can come back to bite him.
