Shaquille O'Neal is defending his Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson from accusations of racism levied by Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen.
Pippen has gone scorched earth on his former coach over the past few days. On Monday, during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show“, the Hall of Fame forward doubled down on his comments to GQ calling Jackson a racist for infamously giving the final shot to Toni Kukoc in Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Pippen then cited Jackson's behavior towards Kobe Bryant as an example of his racist tendencies. The six-time champ opined that Jackson tried to “expose” the Lakers star by returning to coach the team one year after writing a book that harshly criticized Bryant. Jackson and Bryant would win two more titles together and form a deep bond.
In the same GQ interview, Pippen touched on his long-running beef with O'Neal's “Inside the NBA” teammate, Charles Barkley, with whom Pippen clashed during their one tumultuous campaign together with the Houston Rockets in 1998-99.
“I never apologized to him, but I’ll tell you what: He only got arrested for throwing some little white guys out of a window,” Pippen said about Barkley. “I ain’t never seen him fight a Black man unless there were referees around. He plays his role like he’s tough. I don’t know nobody he done whooped.”
While O'Neal didn't stand up for his TNT colleague (possibly as a playful shot at Chuck), the Diesel dismissed Pippen's explosive words on Jackson as an effort to promote his new book and bourbon.
“I don’t want to get involved in other people’s beef, but Phil is definitely not a racist,” O’Neal told FanSided's Mark Carman. “What he said about Barkley makes a lot of sense, but he’s coming out with a new drink and a new book. Maybe this is all marketing.”
O'Neal won three titles (2000-02) and an MVP (2000) with Bryant and Jackson in Los Angeles.
In 2016, Jackson irked current Lakers star LeBron James (and Carmelo Anthony) when he referred to James' inner circle as a “posse.”
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