Shaquille O’Neal snappily told Charles Barkley not to interrupt him Tuesday night on Inside the NBA and Skip Bayless got a big kick out of it.
After the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns 106-103 Tuesday night, advancing to the semifinals of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, Shaq bypassed the obvious choices of LeBron James and Anthony Davis to declare Austin Reaves most deserving of the game ball.
Shaq and Kenny flaunting their rings. Poor Chuck 🤣 pic.twitter.com/FKZGn94LfW
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 6, 2023
“Reaves gets the game ball,” Shaq said after the win, an assertion that prompted Barkley to say, “Excuse me?”
“Reaves gets the game ball,” Shaq reiterated. “Let me finish before you interrupt me like you’ve been doing for 12 years. Reaves gets the game ball.”
Most viewers would consider this exchange standard banter for Shaq and Barkley, who both routinely relish any opportunity to poke the other. But Bayless, who has a long-running feud with Barkley, took extra pleasure in watching his adversary get shut down.
“Pretty sure Shaq just got mad at Barkley for interrupting him and shut Barkley down,” Bayless tweeted. “Loved it.”
Pretty sure Shaq just got mad at Barkley for interrupting him and shut Barkley down. Loved it.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) December 6, 2023
The irony, however, is that any form of a “stop interrupting me” exchange in sports media will forever be linked to Bayless and Shannon Sharpe. Bayless was famously scolded by Sharpe nearly one year ago for interrupting the Pro Football Hall of Famer on Undisputed. The incident occurred the day Sharpe returned from an unplanned absence on the show, seemingly in protest of Bayless’s untimely tweet about Damar Hamlin.
Less than six months after the exchange, Bayless and Sharpe parted ways, with the latter joining Stephen A. Smith on First Take. Also after the exchange, Bayless has been trolled by Shaq and Barkley several times, with one jokingly telling the other to “stop interrupting me.”
Tuesday night’s version seemed like less of a poignant dig at Bayless, and more of an example of Shaq chiding Barkley. But when Bayless applauded one sports media personality for telling another to stop interrupting them, the FS1 host had to recognize the irony, right?
