Despite making over $450 Million, Shaquille O'Neal was a menace to society as he used to prank his Suns teammates with Brazilian naked wrestling
NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal is one of the most successful athletes of all time both on and off the court. He boasts a $450 million net worth from his career earnings, endorsements and businesses.
Despite all of his success, O'Neal has never become snobby or entitled. Instead, he has remained down to earth and has always made sure to have a good time with those around him. Such was the case throughout his career, as O'Neal was known to regularly have fun at the expense of his coaches and teammates.
According to O'Neal’s former Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry, the Hall-of-Fame big man constantly pulled pranks on his Suns teammates. This was during the big man's one-and-a-half seasons with the franchise between 2008 to 2009.
In 2014, Gentry recalled one of O'Neal’s most notorious pranks where he would surprise attack Suns players and staff members while fully naked. O'Neal would do so by tackling them to the ground and then rolling around with them. Gentry said O’Neal would do this regularly and that he referred to the practice as "Brazilian naked wrestling:"
“The thing that he did that he got to be notorious for is that every few days or every week or so, he would decide that it was time for this Brazilian naked wrestling contest,” Gentry said.
“You didn’t know who the chosen one was. But what would happen when you least expect it, this 7-foot, 310-pound guy would turn the corner. And he would be stark naked, and then he would run right at you full speed, grab you, take you to the floor, and then he would do about five roll-overs with you.”
Luckily for the Suns' players and staff members at the time, O'Neal’s time in Phoenix was short-lived. This came as O’Neal was traded to Cleveland in the 2009 offseason after playing just 103 total games for the Suns.
Shaquille O'Neal once showed up naked to LA Lakers practice
Unfortunately, for Shaquille O'Neal’s other teammates, Phoenix wasn’t the only place where he participated in nude pranks. Earlier on in his career with the LA Lakers, O’Neal reportedly showed up to a Lakers practice wearing only his basketball shoes.
At an American Express event in 2016, Shaquille O'Neal’s former Lakers coach Phil Jackson recalled the story:
“Well, you know, a number of times, he could crack a team up with humorous effects on the floor,” Jackson said.
“There were times when he shocked us all in a practice situation, especially when he showed up nude with just his shoes on.”
Shaquille O'Neal was also present at the event when Jackson told the story. However, O’Neal neither confirmed nor denied whether the story was true:
“I don’t remember,” O'Neal said.
O'Neal was clearly joking in his response. So it just goes to show that nobody was safe from the big man’s unpredictable antics throughout his legendary 19-year career. Not even one of the most well-respected coaches in NBA history.
Also read: "I wish that was me"- Shaquille O'Neal says he was very jealous of LeBron James when he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer