Shaquille O’Neal proved that he has not lost his jumping ability with age by dunking inside TNT’s Studio J during Tuesday’s Inside The NBA episode.
As they routinely do on the program, the 52-year-old Hall of Famer and his colleagues Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith got into a fun verbal spar. This time, the latter two insisted that O’Neal could no longer dunk like he did during his playing days.
After a back and forth, O’Neal asked staff behind the scenes to give him a ball to prove his fellow legends wrong.
While O’Neal remained persistent, Smith started listing his injuries as Barkley told the producers ‘Don’t give him no ball, the dude gone kill himself on national TV.’
Barkley continued to discourage O’Neal, telling him to ‘check your ego at the door.’ Nonetheless, the four-time champion took off his blazer, walked down their in-studio court, and dunked the ball.
‘Are you not entertained,’ O’Neal exclaimed as he walked back to the desk to his colleague’s cheers and laughter.
Shaquille O’Neal stunned his colleagues and fans by dunking during Inside the NBA on Tuesday
Smith even gave his colleague a standing ovation as Ernie Johnson looked relieved that O’Neal did not hurt himself while turning the clock backward.
While Barkley, Smith, and Johnson’s concern turned into awe, fans took to social media to praise O’Neal for proving Father Time wrong and let their love for the show be known.
’52 and still bullying the rim like it owes him money,’ one user wrote.
‘He could start in Washington for sure,’ another added.
‘These 4 are gold together,’ a fourth chimed in.
‘I can literally watch these dudes for HOURS,’ a fourth wrote. ‘They are the best team on tv and it ain’t close!’
‘@NBAonTNT is better than the actual @NBA games,’ commented a fifth.
O’Neal retired from the NBA in 2011 after 19 seasons in the NBA. The big man served stints with the Magic, Lakers, Heat, Suns, Cavaliers, and Celtics throughout his legendary career.
The program will air on ESPN next year after TNT’s broadcast rights deal with the NBA concludes.
