Shaquille O’Neal Reveals Time He Actually ‘Wanted To Knock Charles Barkley’s Head Off’

NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal was recently a guest of honor at the Zeta Live 2024 AI and marketing event in New York City. He was interviewed by Zeta Global founder and CEO David Steinberg, who had some very interesting questions for the basketball Hall of Famer.

During their near-30-minute talk, Charles Barkley inevitably entered the conversation as Shaq opened up about his relationship with his former NBA foe turned "Inside the NBA" co-host. This included the one time O'Neal and Barkley nearly went at it after an intense battle on the court.

"Oh, I hate Charles," Shaq started. "If Charles was here right now, I'd punch him right in the face."

The Los Angeles Lakers icon then went on to start talking about an incident that nearly turned real ugly between himself and Barkley.

"Actually, Charles is the annoying big brother that I never had," O'Neal said. "I had respect for him -- well, I do, I still have respect for him. But one time in a game he hit me with a basketball, and I couldn't take that. I wanted to knock his head off but I missed.

"So, my plan was to go in the locker room, not take a shower, meet him at the bus, and f------ kill him. That's the plan."

Shaq was referring to a 1999 game between his Lakers and Barkley's Houston Rockets wherein both players were thrown out of the game after a wild altercation .

Apparently, O'Neal had bad intentions as he headed to the back. Fortunately, divine providence intervened to prevent a violent confrontation from the two superstars.

"So, when I get to the locker room, my phone rings, and it's my mother and his mother on the line," Shaq relayed. "And they were best friends for 20 years, and I had no idea.

"I'm a mama's boy. My momma said, 'Y'all cut that out. Charles is in the hallway waiting for you. Y'all go shake hands right now.' I wanted to say, 'Nah, not this time, mom.' Because I'm a mama's boy, so when I go in the hallway, Charles is there. He's laughing, I'm laughing. ... I shook his hand, became friends."

Now that he has the benefit of hindsight, Shaq admits that his mom was right and that he would not have been a very good role model for the younger fans had he pursued his original plan.

The four-time NBA champ acknowledged, though, that despite their differences, there's always an underlying mutual feeling of respect between them.

"What I realized is, the respect was never lost," O'Neal said. "So even though we go at it, he respects me, I respect him. But he was here I would still punch him in the face."

Some things never change, I guess.

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