Charles Barkley Can’t Stop Picking on Shaquille O’Neal Even on His Special Day

Chuck and Shaq can’t turn it off even on the big emotional nights. Charles Barkley is definitely happy for Shaquille O’Neal as the Orlando Magic retires his No. 32 jersey on February 13. As Shaq will be the first player in franchise history to receive that honor, the Chuckster expressed his congratulations with the kind of banter exclusive to this cat-and-dog duo.

“Congratulations!” Charles Barkley bellowed in a video shared by the Orlando Magic X page. The Oscar-worthy actor he is, Chuck pretended to be confused for a second there. “Wait a minute… Is this the Lakers, Cleveland, Miami, Suns, or Boston jersey retirement? Oh my bad, Orlando Magic!… We love you, man. It couldn’t happen to a better guy. It’s well deserved. We’re proud of you. It’s an honor and privilege to work with you every single week. We love you and congratulations on the Magic retiring your jersey.”

You can understand Chuck’s confusion (genuine or not). This doesn’t happen often. Shaq is only the third NBA player in history to have his jersey retired by three teams. The Lakers retired #34 and Heat retired #32 too.

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Try as he might to pretend he doesn’t keep up with his big best friend, Chuck went through the entire list of teams Shaq has played for in his career. In a rare show of love, he said he enjoyed working with Shaq every week. Though Thursdays aren’t complete without some Shaq vs Chuck.

Chuck ‘n Shaq, Duo of the Year

Last week things got fiery between the frenemies as they resorted to a shouting match on Inside the NBA. They patched up in the same episode to discuss their favorite player, Joel Embiid’s status.

The duo is on a roll too. Shaq and Super Bowl champion, Jason Kelce taunted Chuck’s ringless career – something Shaq always does on TNT too. Barkley, for his part, was at Power Slap 6 in Vegas, where he said he’d not take on the 7’1″ giant as his opponent ever. “When you’re big and ugly, you have a different type of power,” Barkley reasoned.

Note Chuck scoffed at Gayle King for remotely considering Shaq good-looking. He thinks he’s better looking than O’Neal and completely ribbed Shaq for landing the ninth spot on the list of Sexiest Bald Men last year.

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We live for Chuck vs Shaq. Come Thursday, being the first player to have their Orlando number retired won’t keep Shaq immune from Chuckster’s ribbing.