Not like Shaq needs an excuse to drop by his old stomping grounds. He could’ve been visiting his 20-feet bronze likeness in LSU for all you know. Regardless, the Tigers were over the moon to have the team’s legacy athlete, Shaquille O’Neal pop by their practice. The team flexed their biggest alum’s visit to the basketball practice today. And in quite the cinematic fashion too! Big Diesel’s big grin is simply proof that his old school takes away his anxiety regarding Team USA’s run right.

The LSU basketball page posted, “Shoutout to The Diesel for swinging by practice today,” with a small photodump of O’Neal’s visit. The first photo was the big talking point, with the 52-year-old basketball star under the banner of his retired #33 Tigers number. Shaq still owns that purple and gold look.

Shaq frequents LSU games often, long before he became a fan of Angel Reese, and when his kids were students here too. He’s met Matt McMahon, the Tigers’ head coach since 2022, before. But the coach lit up with O’Neal’s presence in his practice. Maybe he takes comfort that O’Neal had left college while he was an NCAA player in 1996.

The players took advantage of O’Neal’s visit too. He was caught in action talking and giving advice to young players like Adam Benhayoune. He also caught up with Tasmin Mitchell, LSU’s all-time best scorer who played internationally before returning to the Tigers as an assistant coach.

Shaq dropped by after a very grueling schedule across Europe with his son, Myles O’Neal. He wasn’t there for the Paris Olympics though he was spotted with some Team USA members during the exhibition games. Shaq’s on the Summer of Bass Tour during which he debuted EDM’s first father-son duo, O’Neal Boyz with Myles.

Shaq keeps his mind off Team USA

While Coach McMahon was still in college, Shaq was winning a gold in the Olympics. That would’ve been a nerve-wrecking time for anyone. And Shaq still feels that. He even confessed on The Big Podcast, “I am not even paying attention to the Olympics.” Surprising right, since he’s had such strong opinions about the roster and a diehard of the Dream Team? But he said, this Team USA, “They scare me.” He referred to LeBron & Co. squeaking by the other teams during the exhibition games.

Not the anxiety Shaq wants to deal with. So he tuned out the Olympics in Europe, performing at Tomorrowland and Electric Castle, and is keeping his fingers crossed for a gold. He has no performance lined up in Louisiana but will head to Missouri next where he’ll perform at the KC Royals vs St Louis Cardinals game on August 9.

Shaq wasn’t present, but he’d be quite involved in the opening plans for the newest Big Chicken franchise in Lubbock, Texas on Monday. He’s also helming a ‘Shaq-to-School’ program among other philanthropic ventures in between. A very effective way of getting his mind off the Olympics indeed.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.