To keep up with an early-June tradition here at The Comeback, here’s a story about Shaq doing things naked.
Shaquille O’Neal is a ridiculous human being, but somehow there’s always a crazy Shaq story we haven’t heard yet. Former Suns guard Leandro Barbosa shared one such story in his post on The Players’ Tribune from when he and O’Neal were teammates in Phoenix:
Shaq was a scary dude, for sure. But once you see somebody naked, you just see a different side of them. You ready for this story? You’re not ready.
I don’t think anybody is ever ready for this, but here goes:
It’s a game day, early in the afternoon. Shaq picks me up because we’re both heading to the trainer’s room to get some work done before tip-off. We get to the locker room, take our clothes off and go over to the rehab room. But the trainer isn’t there.
We wait 15 minutes. We’re all there in towels, just sitting around waiting. Shaq is kind of upset at this point. So he takes off his towel (not sure why) and heads down to our trainer’s office. He opens the door and is like, “Are you coming? Or am I going to have to pick you up and take you?”
At first, the trainer can’t tell if Shaq is joking or not. Shaq takes a few steps closer and our trainer knows he’s not. So the trainer takes off — sprinting down the hall.
Shaq follows him, of course. Still butt-ass naked. Now Shaq is in a dead sprint down the hallway, running past arena workers and other staff, screaming at the top of his lungs. This is a normal business day. It’s a weekday.
Everyone is in official Suns gear or in suits. Shaq is in his birthday suit.
Just picture that, if you dare.
No, thanks. I’m still not ready to even picture Shaq’s bare feet. And if you’re similarly minded, read Barbosa’s post for the stories about his life growing up in Brazil, not the Shaq nudity.
