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Shaquille O’Neal is not happy with Charles Barkley over his top 10.
Inside The NBA on TNT is known for many things. While actual, insightful basketball analysis is not always one of them, watching Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal riff on each other (with Ernie Johnson often serving as moderator) is usually guaranteed to entertain.
Though the show is currently employing a social distancing format, with all four analysts calling in virtually, that hasn’t stopped the formula from working. Whether they’re in the studio together, keeping 6-10 feet apart or sitting on opposite ends of the globe, as long as these four can see and hear each other, NBA fans will find something to enjoy.
Thursday’s edition of Inside The NBA was no different. The reason? Charles Barkley had left Shaq out of his top 10 all-time NBA players:
What Charles Barkley right to leave Shaq out of his top 10?
Barkley was immediately confronted by O’Neal and Kenny “The Jet” Smith, with Chuck admitting that he’s never seen anyone like Shaq, who he called the most dominant big man ever. However, Barkley also defended himself by pointing out how loaded that top 10 is, noting that he “put [O’Neal] behind Magic [Johnson] and [Larry] Bird, LeBron [James] and Kobe [Bryant]! I didn’t put him behind nobody crazy!”
Chuck has a point in such a highly subjective debate, but for reference, this particular NBA writer put him at No. 9 on his own list of the greatest NBA players ever, one spot ahead of Kobe Bryant.
In any case, Shaq gave his solution for being snubbed from Barkley’s list.
“Chuck, you know what? I miss you and all, but I ain’t gonna argue with you,” he said. “You’ve got two options: When you get back here, you face this [raising his first], or you take all your clothes off and you jump in that damn lake, river, ocean, whatever it is, and you hold your breath for 30 minutes. When I see you, I’m putting these hands on you! I’m not in your top 10? You kidding me?”
The group was all laughing throughout this segment, so even if there wasn’t a pandemic still going on, we wouldn’t be seeing a real fight between these two anytime soon. Still, this was another reminder that no matter how different 2020 has been, the Inside The NBA crew is always capable of giving basketball fans a good laugh.