Shaq and the Inside the NBA crew have never been shy about expressing their opinions about the game or the starts that play it. O’Neal seems especially keen to call out lame or underachieving play when he sees it.
And while show host Ernie Johnson usually stays on the sidelines, acting like the referee to the crew, and Kenny “The Jet” Smith is more of an analytics guy, Charles Barkley is usually the one to either side with Shaq or argue with him on his latest hot take. This time around, Sir Charles and Shaq are squarely on the same side.
Lately, both O’Neal and Barkley have been – shall we say – less than impressed with the play of Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant. KD started the season talking of a possible trade, saying it was something he wanted. When no other team (at least a team he liked) came forward with a better offer, he apparently decided to stay in Brooklyn.
While the Inside the NBA conversation is often about on-court play, this time it seems there’s a bit of a social media battle going on with Durant over… wait for it! His hair. Strange, we know. Read on…
We’re not sure how or where it started, but it seems most likely that it happened on a recent Saturday morning when Durant tweeted about Shaq saying earlier that he didn’t know a whole lot about Rui Hachimura. For the record, Rui was the ninth overall pick in the 2019 draft. He was recently picked up by the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade with the Washington Wizards.
At the time, Shaq said: “If you ain’t a top 10 player, I don’t know who you are. I’m not watching the Bullets or the Wizards.” It was after that comment that Durant tweeted back, “Shaquille doesn’t know ball?”
Needless to say, it didn’t take long for the big man to come back with a return shot of his own. The big man tweeting, “i don’t kno ball, but i kno how to brush my hair, or decide to cut it when i was going bald. love always THE BUS DRIVER.”
Now for those who don’t remember or didn’t hear it the first time, O’Neal’s “bus driver” reference alluded to his partner Charles Barkley, who commented during the 2022 playoffs about Durant needing to be the focal point on a championship team to gain respect instead of being a “bus rider.”
See the full video of Barkley’s comments with Shaq – click here.
As for Durant’s hair-related talk… sounds to us like he was taking a bit of a shot at Shaq (and maybe Barkley too) over their choice of hairstyles. Of course both men sport clean-shaven bald heads…so there’s that.
At the time, Sir Charles said, “KD’s a great player. Only point I was making is life is different when you’re driving the bus.” At the time, Durant responded by posting images of the Hall of Fame teammates Barkley played with during his own personal ring-less career.
Like we said, the Inside crew is never shy about sharing their thoughts and feelings about the game and its star players… and sometimes those players give as good as they get, too!