“He Was Setting You Up”: Bodybuilding Legend Falls Into Shaquille O’Neal’s Expensive Trap Leaving Fans Disappointed

It’s a busy season for Shaquille O’Neal. Between launching his own music festival and making his fourth appearance at Lost Lands, he’s dropping by nonprofits, checking in on his multiple businesses, doing conventions, and staying on top of his fitness regimen. He finds time to wind down while on the road with a few games and swindling his friends. One little con Shaq pulled on his trainer has elicited all kinds of responses from fans.

Big Diesel enlisted a bodybuilding pro to get back into his NBA championship fit. His trainer-turned-friend should’ve known that even though Shaq isn’t an NBA pro anymore, he’s still got game. His entire ordeal fans shaking their head at the lapse in judgement.

Shaquille O’Neal dupes his trainer

Shaq has his trusty entourage while he’s on the road, including Rashid Shabazz. Better known as Roc, the IFBB pro is helping the 7’1″ legend stay in shape. Roc dropped a video on his Instagram page sharing how the Diesel entourage unwinds on the road. “What do we do on the road you ask?” he captioned the post of them shooting water bottles into a trash can.

It’s a reinvented version of basketball. As one commenter pointed out, “I mean, you have to keep yourselves entertained somehow on these long hauls.” Shabazz replied, “keeps us out of trouble,” but clearly it didn’t. In fact, it cost him about $300 from the looks of it.

At the start of the clip, the four-time NBA champion missed his first shot. Coach to Mr. Olympia winners, Hany Rambod commented, “He was setting you up!” but Roc did not see it at that time. He was posturing before Shaq who decided to take on the challenge again.

He goaded Roc into accepting by throwing a few hundred-dollar bills on the floor. Roc accepted, also betting hundreds from his own pocket. Shaq had him at that point. From a pretty decent distance, the Big Aristotle tossed a bottle and it fell in the trashcan. Roc’s bodybuilding friend, Dexter ‘The Blade’ Jackson commented, “Big with the shot!” to appropriately describe that moment.

The iconic Rick James’ daughter, Ty James saw it coming. She was far for more surprised Shaq’s friend fell for his ruse. “Come on coach this man whole life was based on aim and precision. He couldn’t get me to put a nickel down,” she wrote under the post.

A smug Shaq collected his winnings off the floor while Roc was mourning his loss.

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Anyone could tell Shaq faked the first miss and drove up the stakes to extort Shabazz, except the fitness guru himself. “Fell for the hustle,” one commenter summarized.

Shaquille O’Neal’s antics with his trainer

With his health in dire straits, Shaquille O’Neal began his weight loss journey in 2022. With help from Rashid Shabazz, he has shed at least 55lbs and is closer to his 325lbs goal. Thanks to Roc, Shaq’s been in better shape than ever, and it shows.

Roc follows Shaq everyone. Very recently, they were goofing around in the multi-millionaire’s $27 million private jet. The Big Diesel got his revenge for sure. One person rubbed salt in Roc’s wounds with, “He’s still got it! Buckets. You dropped that money like you was going to do a little something Sir.”

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This isn’t the first (or last!) of the trainer and the athlete’s combined shenanigans on the road. We look forward to Shaq conning more friends out of their money in the near future.