Shaquille O’Neal Blames Hilarious Charles Barkley-Like Moment on Live Audience’s Antics

The Big Aristotle can’t get everything right after all. During the special Inside the NBA broadcast last night, the 4x NBA champion displayed his co-host Charles Barkley‘s infamous trait. Shaquille O’Neal got confused, mistaking an Indiana Pacers superstar for none other than Trae Young. Furthermore, he went on to detail an odd story to justify his blunder.

Similar to Sir Charles, the 51-year-old also made a blunder. He confused the 23-year-old Tyrese Haliburton for the Atlanta Hawks star. Haliburton has had great success in the NBA In-season tournament with the Pacers. He has successfully taken his team to the Championship game on Saturday.

While O’Neal wanted to praise the point guard, his hilarious mistake caught his crew and fans’ attention. As he noted, “I told Kenny, I said, ‘Kenny, Trae is the real deal.” Ernie Johnson highlighted O’Neal’s error. However, the legend swiftly offered explanations. He hilariously attributed his confusion to cannabis. He added, “It’s that damn cannabis behind me!” This left Haliburton in splits as well.

Barkley has made similar mistakes multiple times in the past. Despite being a seasoned NBA veteran with the responsibility of knowing the right name, the legend is often caught with such blunders. Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum seems a pretty simple name, right? Yet, Sir Charles ended up saying his name wrong.

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Charles Barkley has made numerous mistakes similar to Shaquille O’Neal’s on Thursday

Like O’Neal, Chuck also aimed to sing Tatum’s praises for his recent accomplishments. However, during the conversation, he ended up naming him as footballer Jayson Taylor. This was certainly not the first time. Even the Greek Freak couldn’t escape it. The TNT crew also enjoyed playing with Barkley’s problem with names and asked him to pronounce Giannis’ full name.

As one might assume, Chuck also struggled to name Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s full name and eventually ended up saying “Antekopumpo.” O’Neal did intend to highlight the Pacers star but inadvertently ended up diverting the spotlight from the player to him due to his mistake. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below.

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