"Y'all said I was hating" - Shaquille O'Neal takes another shot at Rudy Gobert ahead of Frenchman's return for must-win game against Thunder
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has been sporting a clean-shaven look of late. On a recent episode of 'The Big Podcast with Shaq', he was asked by his co-hosts for the reason behind his new look. Shaq explained that he shaved off his beard for a commercial he shot with his mother.
He then took an unexpected shot at Minnesota Timberwolves star center Rudy Gobert by calling his baby face the “Rudy Gobert face.”
“I was producing a commercial. My first directorial debut, my mother and me back in the day,” Shaq said.
“So we used a bunch of little kids and they used the technology to put my face on it. And I did a commercial like that a long time ago and my mom was upset. It was a kid body, but I had a beard. She was upset, she was like, ‘Baby, you just messed the whole commercial up.’ So to make you look sort of like a kid. … I had to go Rudy Gobert face.”
The LA Lakers great's co-host Nischelle Turner then told Shaq to hold off on the Rudy Gobert comments for a bit.
“Can you hold the Rudy Gobert for one second,” Turner said.
However, Shaq explained that he had nothing else to say about Gobert:
“I ain’t got nothing to say, I already said it. Y’all said I was hating,” he added.
“We didn’t say you were hating. There were some people who said you were hating, but we didn’t,” Turner responded.
Shaq's comments came right as Rudy Gobert gets set to return to the Timberwolves following his one-game suspension. Gobert was suspended for punching his teammate Kyle Anderson on the sidelines during the Wolves' matchup against New Orleans on Sunday.
Gobert and the Wolves are now set for a do-or-die play-in matchup against the OKC Thunder on Friday night. The winner will secure the eighth seed in the Western Conference and set up a playoff matchup against the first-seeded Denver Nuggets.
A brief history of Shaquille O’Neal’s beef with Rudy Gobert
Shaquille O’Neal’s beef with Rudy Gobert dates back to 2019, when the Frenchman cried during an interview after not being selected as a 2019 NBA All-Star back when he played for Utah.
Shaq mocked Gobert, telling him to man up.
“There is no crying in basketball,” Shaq said.
“Maybe he was sad he didn’t make it, but it happens like that sometimes. I remember when I made it fifteen years in a row and the last year I didn’t make it, I guess I wasn’t good enough. But that’s not something to cry about … Man up, put some icy hot on your face.”
In 2021, he sarcastically called Gobert an inspiration after he signed a $205 million contract with the Jazz:
“I’m not gonna hate, but this should be an inspiration to all the little kids out there. You average 11 points in the NBA, you can get $200 million,” Shaq said.
“He’s got a great agent, and I’m happy for him and his family. With the new rules, you have a pot of money, you have to spend that money. I’m happy for him, but this is a moment for a lot of kids who think they can’t make it.”
When Shaq's TNT co-host Kenny Smith defended Gobert as one of the best players in the league, the Big Aristotle threatened to leave the set:
Shaq was ready to walk off the set when Kenny Smith said Rudy Gobert was one of the best players in the league https://t.co/AZjxkEVqJl
The two big men have even gone at each other on social media, with Gobert alleging last season that he could lock Shaq up. This came after Shaq told his podcast co-host Spice Adams that he would score 12 points in the first three minutes against Gobert:
“12 points? Yeah, in the first three minutes,” O’Neal said.
“Let me tell you something, man. It’s against my religion for somebody to hold me one-on-one. I take that personally. I do.”
.@spiceadams: "I think Rudy can hold you to like 12 points."
@SHAQ: "Yeah...in the first 3 minutes!" 😂
#TheBigPodcast: bit.ly/3w6HoUd https://t.co/Yfz3jutQRN
“I would lock his a** up,” Gobert responded.
🍿
Rudy fires back at Shaq in our comments 👀🍿 https://t.co/ReqZZ6Z6WZ
So all things considered, it doesn’t look like Shaquille O’Neal is going to let his beef with Rudy Gobert end any time soon.
Also read: “He would not let me be down on myself” - Shaquille O'Neal on the influence of his stepfather on his legendary basketball career