Here’s What Shannon Sharpe Did Wrong Amid Shaquille O’Neal Beef, as Per 3x All-Star

Apparently, doing a few podcasts together doesn’t make Shannon Sharpe immune to No Chill Gil. Gilbert Arenas was there on Nightcap when the subject of Nikola Jokic’s MVP win triggered the beef between Sharpe and Shaquille O’Neal. On his solo podcast, Arenas was laughing at his fate of somehow ending up at the crime scene. That’s the price you pay for becoming an omnipresent sports media personality. So he’s on No Chill Gil, addressing the ongoing beef. Seems like even the blunt Gil stays loyal to his basketball community because he pointed out what his co-host did wrong by provoking Shaq.

The entire situation had Arenas sitting back with dramatic orchestra music to self-reflect on how they ended up here. When he did, he blamed Sharpe. He picked the episode of Unc and Ocho’s podcast when Sharpe made the comments about Shaq to Chad Johnson. Sharpe said that Shaq admitted he never worked as hard during his NBA career. Mistake #1 Sharpe made according to Gil, “You basically saying the man [O’Neal] didn’t really work to be as great as he was.” 

Arenas said Sharpe’s sounding slightly “Kobe-ish.” Kobe Bryant was the one who said he and Shaq would’ve won a dozen rings together if O’Neal just put in the extra hard work in the gym. Yet Shaq’s former teammate got a pass. Arenas said Sharpe could’ve phrased it better to ease into that bit.

The other mistake Sharpe made was that he wasn’t able to repeat what exactly Shaq said about himself. Paraphrasing doesn’t cut it. In 2015, Shaq understood why Kobe thought he didn’t work hard enough. But he also said that even his practice opponents tried to take him down a notch. That’s why he never worked hard in practice.

“I’m not gonna get beat up at practice and in the game. So I will chill in practice and I’ll give you all in the game. … I’m gonna go out in front of these 16,000 people and then give you 28, 10. I’m gonna go out and dominate, I’m gonna go out and hit clutch free throws when I need them. That’s what you pay me for,” Shaq said four years after retirement. Sharpe didn’t accurately give the context about Shaq’s game-practice philosophy. That wasn’t all Arenas said Sharpe messed up in.

Agent Zero was harsh on his colleague for the Shaquille O’Neal beef

Arenas might have to have a discussion with Sharpe the next time they’re doing a show together. This time he was exasperated with Shay and said, “Right there you messed up.” He was referring to when Sharpe told Johnson that he was never as ‘lazy’ as Shaq and proceeded to say how he made use of his talents to the fullest.

“You supposed to add another player,” Arenas said. He contended that Sharpe needed a proper basketball example, maybe throwing in Wilt Chamberlain’s name, to make his point. “You couldn’t come up with option two,” he claimed as Sharpe didn’t name an MVP who hadn’t put in the work to earn it.

The final mistake Sharpe apparently made was to dwell on what-ifs. Arenas said Lakers Nation loves to think that Shaq and Kobe could’ve won a dozen titles but they’re content with the three-peat too. So Arenas gets why Shaq didn’t appreciate the commentary and dropped a diss track on Unc. We’d have to see what’s Sharpe’s response to Arenas next.