Throughout his Hall of Fame career, Shaquille O'Neal developed the strong reputation as being quite a comical guy behind his unique sense of humor.
There have been many behind-the-scenes stories told about O'Neal's humorous side by various teammates over the years. Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa is the latest to give another anecdote about the Big Diesel via the Players' Tribune.
Shaq was a scary dude, for sure. But once you see somebody naked, you just see a different side of them. You ready for this story? You’re not ready.
It’s a game day, early in the afternoon. Shaq picks me up because we’re both heading to the trainer’s room to get some work done before tip-off. We get to the locker room, take our clothes off and go over to the rehab room. But the trainer isn’t there. We wait 15 minutes. We’re all there in towels, just sitting around waiting. Shaq is kind of upset at this point. So he takes off his towel (not sure why) and heads down to our trainer’s office. He opens the door and is like, “Are you coming? Or am I going to have to pick you up and take you?”
At first, the trainer can’t tell if Shaq is joking or not. Shaq takes a few steps closer and our trainer knows he’s not. So the trainer takes off — sprinting down the hall.
Shaq follows him, of course. Still buck-ass naked. Now Shaq is in a dead sprint down the hallway, running past arena workers and other staff, screaming at the top of his lungs. This is a normal business day. It’s a weekday.
Everyone is in official Suns gear or in suits. Shaq is in his birthday suit.
Just picture that, if you dare.
Future Hall of Famer, one of the greatest big men to ever play the game of basketball. And here he was, naked, chasing our tiny little trainer through the arena halls. I think the chase lasted 15 minutes. Which is a long time for the Big Nude Cactus to be loose in the arena.
That’s my friend, that’s Shaq.
As insane as this story seems, there are various other ones like it involving O'Neal being in his birthday suit. Former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson has stated on numerous occasions that three-time NBA Finals MVP would show up to practice in the nude or wearing just his shoes.
There are likely dozens of crazy untold stories out there about O'Neal during his career that would fall in with Barbosa's story. He is a light-hearted person off the court, but on it, he was one of the most dominant players that the league had ever seen.
During his heyday, he was an unstoppable force on the court that saw him steamroll to three straight NBA titles with the Lakers and helped guide the Miami Heat to their first one in franchise history a few years later.
All in all, this just another hilarious story about O'Neal's comical side that has made him of the league's most beloved players.
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