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“You Go That Way You’re Gonna Get Shot”: Shaquille O’Neal Nearly ‘Escaped’ Abu Dhabi Into Iran If Not For The Police

Keshav Kumar Keshu
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"You Go That Way You're Gonna Get Shot": Shaquille O'Neal Nearly 'Escaped' Abu Dhabi Into Iran If Not For The Police

America’s most loved NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, was recently in Abu Dhabi for his professional commitments. The big man was shooting commercials and enjoying the time of his life in the Middle Eastern country before he almost crossed the line. In his podcast – ‘The Big Podcast’, Shaq narrated an incident to his co-host Adam Lefkoe that almost had him arrested in the capital city.

Shaquille O’Neal enjoys life to the fullest and often likes to go overboard with his partying knowing very well that he can get away with it. However, things could have taken a turn for the worse for the NBA champion if not for the Abu Dhabi police. While jet-skiing in the city, Shaq decided to test the limits of the designated boundaries and almost ended up in Iranian territory.

Shaq narrated the whole story to his host,

“You wanna hear something funny – I almost got arrested. So, me and my boy were in the SeaDudes (jet ski), and a guy tell us don’t go that way.”

But Shaq being Shaq, after he was told not to go there, he had all of his focus shift to reach there.

“I am just going and going and we just keep going. All of a sudden the police are behind us. The brother stopped and said, ‘You can’t go that way’. I said, ‘Why?’ and he said, ‘That’s Iran’. So I was like really close. He is like brother if you go that way you would get shot.”

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In his defense, Shaq mentioned that the waters were so calm and smooth that he could not control himself in the jet skis. However, the fact that he almost wandered into foreign territory is crazy.

Fortunately for the big man, the police were there to warn him. In the end, it made for a hilarious encounter and something he would never forget about his visit.

Shaquille O’Neal refers to Abu Dhabi as his second home

The NBA superstar enjoyed the city of Abu Dhabi so much that he referred to it as his second home. In an Instagram reel posted by the Hall of Fame player, he was seen enjoying his time in the waters and posing for the camera. With a scenic view of the city’s skyscrapers in the background, the four-time NBA champion captioned the photo – “Enjoying my 2nd home, Abu Dhabi”. Here is the Instagram video posted by Shaq:

This is not the first time Shaq has visited the city. He did an advertisement for the country last year to promote tourism.

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Shaquille O’Neal has turned into a global icon through his prowess in the NBA and a pleasant personality. The above advertisement showcases his influence in different parts of the world. With the NBA being a global league, more and more countries have access to the game and players like Shaquille O’Neal are doing their part by promoting the game.

About the author

Keshav Kumar Keshu

Keshav Kumar Keshu

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An NBA journalist for The SportsRush, Keshav is a basketball fanatic and has been since the age of 10 when he first got introduced to the game. Since then, his love for the game has increased exponentially to the point its become an obsessive compulsion. He has been diligently following the NBA for more than a decade now and is a huge Golden State Warriors fan. Keshav has written over 250+ articles about the NBA.

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