Former Los Angeles Lakers star and NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neal has always spoken his mind. He has made comments on several things in and around the league. However, different people will have different opinions on Shaq’s opinions. While some may take it as simple criticism others take it as banter. Some people even get hurt by his comments.
The four-time NBA champion has studied journalism as he always had a plan of moving towards this field after ending his career as a legendary player for the Purple and Yellow outfit. In 2011, Shaq moved to television, analysing the game for TNT alongside Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and best friend Charles Barkley.
His introduction to the show helped both parties as it saw the viewerships skyrocket and Shaq also got an opportunity to share his nitty gritty on the game after a very successful career. His presence has made the fans watch the show and also for his courageous takes on several aspects of the game.
Recently, O’Neal in an interview shared that he owes an apology to Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons. In an interaction with Bleacher Report, the Big Diesel shared that if he had said anything hurtful to the Australian he expects the 25-year-old to call him and avoid speculations.
“When you leave people room to speculate, everybody gonna make their own speculation,” O’Neal said. “If I said something that was hurtful, then maybe he should call me and say, ‘You said this.’ I’m intelligent enough to stop time and say, ‘OK, when did I say it? You know what? That wasn’t right. My bad, big homie,’ but right now we just going on speculation.”
A few days ago Doc Holiday called out a few analysts as he felt that they owe an apology for their statements regarding Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons. The list of NBA analysts also includes Shaq, Charles Barkley, Stephen A. Smith, Reggie Miller, Kendrick Perkins, Shannon Sharpe, etc. on Twitter.
Simmons joined the Brooklyn Nets after the trade between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Nets. But since then he has not featured for Steve Nash’s men as they got swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
Simmons has suffered from a back injury and Doc Holiday believes that the analyst has made fun of the Australian without even considering his physical condition. Therefore he believes that the analysts should apologize to Ben Simmons.
