With the regular season over, teams are preparing for the upcoming playoffs. One of the most anticipated matchups was the Atlanta Hawks facing the Miami Heat for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks managed to get the best of the Heat as they won a tough battle on the road to the postseason. The play-in tournament game may have costed Charles Barkley a billion dollars due to a bet he sought to make with Shaquille O?Neal.
Shaquille O?Neal is still evading the authorities from the FTX lawsuit that is being brought up on him. Despite facing the lawsuit, the Los Angeles Lakers legend is still out there making bets. This has been brought to light recently on social media.
Shaquille O’Neal is making bets while avoiding a lawsuit
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On the most recent episode of NBA on TNT,?Philadelphia 76ers legend Charles Barkley sought to bet Shaquille O?Neal $1,000,000,000 that the Miami Heat will be defeating the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament. Unfortunately for Barkley, the Hawks managed to defeat the Heat 116-105.
But what seems wilder is the fact that Shaquille O?Neal is still out there, agreeing to making huge bets, while avoiding a lawsuit. Atlanta Hawks reporter Pat Benson highlighted O?Neal?s evasive maneuvers on Twitter.
Benson Tweeted, ?Shaq betting a billion (on the Hawks) while actively dodging FTX lawsuits is nuts.?
Shaq betting a billion (on the Hawks) while actively dodging FTX lawsuits is nuts
— Pat Benson (@Pat_Benson_Jr) April 12, 2023
The lawsuit which was filed last year early in November targeted multiple celebrities and athletes for influencing the public to invest in the now bankrupt FTX company. All the defendants have been served but the NBA legend is still an elusive target for the plaintiffs.
The authorities have tried their best to serve the four-time NBA champion multiple times, making visits to his various residences as well. In recent news, Shaq was even accused of threatening the wife of the process server, Beth Shaw. Things have gotten so out of hand that the lawyers leading the FTX lawsuit had to end up approaching things via different and quite unorthodox methods in order to serve the 15-time All-Star.
Perhaps the play-in game bet would really have led Shaq to face the lawyers tracking him more squarely! However, even though Shaq would have easily won the billion, the legends of banter were probably going to think twice before actually going on and sealing the huge wager.
How did the Hawks-Heat game go?
As for the play-in tournament game, the Heat did everything in their power to get their hands on a win. Tyler Herro went for a 26-point performance, followed by Jimmy Butler?s 21.
The Heat even got a huge boost off the bench from Kyle Lowry who led Miami to another 33 points. However, the Hawks? bench still managed to outplay the Heat, with all three ballers up in the double digits.
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Trae Young led Atlanta, scoring 25 points along with 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Dejounte Murray chipped in with another 18 – but it was Clint Capela?s 21 rebounds that mostly made the difference, 8 of them being on the offensive. It isn’t hard to imagine why the thriller had the two veteran ex-leaguers ready to risk it all!
Chuck was willing to bet Shaq a BILLION dollars pregame that the Heat would beat the Hawks tonight 😅 pic.twitter.com/2cXGYDl4Pp
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 12, 2023
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The Atlanta Hawks will now be facing the Boston Celtics in the first round. Let?s see if Shaquille O?Neal still continues to make bets while avoiding the authorities?