Shaquille O’Neal had a glorious basketball career, but like many illustrious stars his fade-out wasn’t as terrific as his early sparkling. Shaq nearly won an NBA championship right out of the gate with the Orlando Magic, then the dominant big man headed to LA where he secured his legacy and practiced his dominance on his way to three straight Lakers titles. The big man next teamed with dynamic Dwyane Wade in Miami for a fourth championship ring before he started his itinerant team hopping. Despite always being considered a member of the Heat, Magic or Lakers by most NBA fans, Shaq actually played for the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics before retiring. (It’s still jarring to see Shaq in a Celtics uniform.)
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But Shaq couldn’t repeat his magic for any of his last three teams, despite being teamed with the likes of LeBron James, Steve Nash and Kevin Garnett. That’s because, according to Charles Barkley in the video below, Shaq by then was a bum. (More accurate, perhaps, was that by then Shaq had bum knees, but Chuck likes to have some fun.) Charles says, “In Phoenix we used to say ‘Shaq’s a bum.'” Shaq doesn’t take kindly to this though, saying calmly “that was after I had four rings.” Charles says he knows, but he continues anyway: “We didn’t get you then we got you at the end. I said the same thing when you were with the Celtics, I said ‘Shaq’s a bum.'” O’Neal finally gets mad, replying to Barkley, “I said the same thing your whole career.” But Barkley is laughing too hard to respond. He just apparently loves saying “Shaq’s a bum!”
Shaq gets sensitive when Chuck calls him a bum pic.twitter.com/3TsZFXkTIH
— The Render (@TheRenderNBA) March 15, 2019
