4 Months After Being Belittled for Spreading Misinformation, Shaquille O’Neal Fails to Live Up to Stephen Curry-Like Standards

Shaquille O’Neal‘s big Chinese expedition looks like a blast. NBA fans in the country are swept up in the Big Diesel charm, which showed at a recent event he attended. He went all out to make sure his fans scored their free throws. But when his turn came, we were dying of secondhand embarrassment. Incidentally, this is one thing that’s been dogging him his entire NBA career and he still couldn’t salvage his reputation.

Shaq tried to pull a desperate Stephen Curry maneuver. Like his attempt to be The Chef months ago, this one tanked hilariously too.

Shaquille O’Neal’s failed Steph Curry moment

We’re getting a serious case of FOMO with every update from Shaq’s Chinese getaway. He’s there for work though, and he made it quite entertaining while he was at it. In an NBA event with Chinese fans, he enjoyed playing coach in a free-throw game. His coaching style is to bend the rules. But when it was his turn, he did something unorthodox. The audience goaded him to shoot when he was back in center court.

He rose to the challenge without making the full journey to the three-point line, made a nonchalant one-handed shot, and… missed.

It might be a sore spot for him. The 7’1″ center was a dominant low-post presence for most of his career. He had very rare instances of stepping farther from his comfort zone to shoot from the three-point line. Out of 22 three-point shots in 19 seasons, he’s only made one when he was still with the Orlando Magic.

12 years after retiring, he hasn’t managed to redeem himself. In fact, he made it difficult for himself by trying to imitate Stephen Curry, who has made 3,389 more 3-pointers than Shaq.

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Curry adapted his playing style when opponents were double-teaming him outside the arc. He practiced shooting farther from the 3-point line till he extended his shooting range successfully. Shaq wasn’t going to get there in one casual game.

This wasn’t the only time he tried to imitate the Golden State Warriors star. Previously, it was Steph’s mom who had to step in and prevent Shaq from making a fool of himself.

Shaq’s shot at redemption

With the stats as evidence, Shaquille O’Neal is regarded as one of the worst shooters in NBA history.

Yet he audaciously tried to call himself the “Black Steph Curry.” That’s when Sonya Curry, Steph’s mother, corrected him on a technicality. Shaq took that graciously. But the embarrassment before his Chinese fans, not so much. As soon as he missed, he was quick to blame the host with, “You was talking.”

In all fairness, the host only hollered “Shaquille O’Neee…” because Shaq missed the shot before he could utter his complete name.

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He shooed the distraction out of the way for a second attempt again from a Steph Curry-range. He failed this one too and pretended nothing happened to swiftly move on with the Q&A segment.

Perhaps the four-time champion should get some shooting lessons from Curry before the NBA season kicks off. Were you impressed with his Chef imitation?