The great NBA legend and unparalleled product pitchman Shaquille O’Neal is the realest of voices in the NBA atmosphere. You want straight talk on the troubles of Kyrie Irving or Ben Simmons and their respective plights with the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, Shaq is a man who minces no words when he speaks. Shaq is — and it’s clear when he speaks — beholden to nobody; he’s a complete independent and functions that way. It’s a rare status in life, and Shaq has achieved it.
This independence is why Shaq is so sought after as a marketer. Besides his enormous persona, great smile, and exquisite comic timing, Shaq has a No BS aspect to his work, and people trust him. He doesn’t have to pitch a product and he sure doesn’t need the money, so he’s free. Here’s Shaq on Simmons:
Now Shaq is right on about Simmons, of course. But back in his own playing days, the big fellas work ethic came up every once in a while, with his former teammate and co-superstar Kobe Bryant sometimes questioning the Big Fella’s desire. Shaq was so dominant, it was hard to question anything about how he went about things — but Kobe, of course, had a different vantage point and sometimes indicated Shaq wasn’t quite the work-out-7-days-a-week guy that he himself was.
The two men had made peace about it all before Kobe’s untimely and tragic death in a helicopter accident. But it’s seems certain Kobe would smile happily at this new Shaq post promoting the MAXPRO trainer, where he shows off his huge muscles and says he works out SEVEN DAYS A WEEK only because there aren’t eight days. You just know Kobe is cheerful in heaven watching Shaq flex!
