Several players have repeatedly said that verbal and physical altercations are pretty common between teammates in team sports. In fact, after the recent Draymond Green-Jordan Poole controversy, several NBA players came out in support of Green. While many had condemned Green’s violent approach towards Poole, there were few who reasoned that such incidents were typical for them.
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Former NBA player Kwame Brown previously revealed that such fights regularly took place during practices. Additionally, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal stated that it’s normal for teammates to get into fights as long as they repent their mistakes and apologize immediately after. This statement by Shaq even led to an argument between the Big Diesel and Charles Barkley, who said that Draymond Green had crossed the line. While fans might disagree with Shaq for his statement, old resurfaced news might explain why Shaq said what he said.
READ MORE – Shaquille O’Neal Hits 7 ft 3 Prodigy Victor Wembanyama with Harsh 5 Word Reality
A fan recently uploaded a video related to Shaq on Twitter. In the short clip, former NBA player Grant Hill recalled the time O’Neal had a physical dispute with a teammate. More specifically, the Big Aristotle once choked former Phoenix Suns player Gordan Giricek.
Shaquille O’Neal reportedly choked out a former teammate
According to Grant Hill, although Gordan Giricek was good at the sport, he was not really a team player. In fact, he would always overlook Shaq and get involved in plenty of trash talks with him. Evidently, after repeated incidents, Shaquille O’Neal decided to teach him a lesson. Apparently, Shaq chose to act right before the Suns’ game against the Dallas Mavericks.
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“After the pregame meeting, I go into bathroom, I come out and Gordan Giricek is laid out on the floor. And the trainers are like, trying to wake him up, you know. Shaq choked him out. Like 18 minutes on the clock, we’re getting ready to go out to play and Shaq, like putting him in a sleeper hold because he was talking too much, he was talking trash to Shaq,” said Hill.
Shaq choked out a teammate right before a game pic.twitter.com/XxA1MoNqZo
— My Fault (@Who_Remy) October 18, 2022
As much fun as it must have been to talk about, you never really how it felt unless you are involved in the situation. After the video was uploaded, the Twitterati didn’t waste any time to voice their opinion. Let’s check out some of the tweets.
This is really terrible man https://t.co/mE8HNPr2z3
— CJ Hood (@CJHOOD216) October 19, 2022
dawg 😂😂 https://t.co/nOeVyU9Poo
— DREBOOMIN 🎮 #SUPPORTFOLKS (@kingondre) October 19, 2022
Daaaaaaaaamnn 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/X1RJfyt4rz
— KU$HAKI₦TE (@Mr7FiggaNigga) October 19, 2022
"I guess it wasn't funny then…" -Grant Hill. No Grant violently asphyxiating coworkers is generally frowned upon!
— Carter Holm (@carterholm21) October 19, 2022
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Happens all the time, it’s just we saw the tape so now everybody up in arms about it. https://t.co/p7DHV0S22u
— Veejay Vernon Huskey “TheBigVanillaFunny” (@HuskeyEnt) October 19, 2022
Not sure this is funny?
— Seany J (@utoracat) August 30, 2018
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Do you think Shaq would have faced suspension if the incident had occurred recently? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!