A rendezvous prized by all fans, Shaqtin A Fool never fails to trigger hilarity … except in a certain player, who almost saw his career be shattered. A very unfortunate other side of the coin.
Who hasn’t laughed at Shaqtin A Fool? For several seasons Shaquille O’Neal presents us with the best bloopers every week or so – always with humor, often with kindness … but sometimes, too, with meanness. Of all the Big Cactus victims over the years, no one has been more negatively impacted than JaVale McGee.
It must be said that at the beginning of his career, the pivot was the real unofficial “MVP” of the show, always present or almost, and absolute laughing stock of social networks. A joke that went too far according to the main person concerned, who had a very bad experience, to the point of ending up settling accounts with the Shaq in person.
The episode is still not digested, and the Suns rookie was keen to make it known during a stint at the microphone from Shannon Sharpe:
The thing about this whole Shaqtin ‘A Fool era was that I didn’t realize what it was like to my career until I traded and got on other teams.
Then I would talk to other coaches and they would say to me, “I always saw the Shaqtin ‘A Fool stuff but I didn’t realize how smart you are. You are vocal, smart, you are a good basketball player. But little by little, it was hurting my reputation. And when you’re 24, young, athletic, it hurts.
In hindsight, and even if the Shaq considers McGee to have been soft in complaining rather than taking it in, one might indeed think the joke has gone too far. Fortunately, everything is back to normal, JaVale has had a great career … and we can therefore indulge ourselves in memory of the good old days with this anthology:
JaVale McGee is still mad at Shaquille O’Neal, which he said has negatively impacted his career. And despite the laughs, that’s probably true.
