Shaquille O’Neal Exposes NBA’s “Scripted” Lies Behind Championship Wins in an Honest Admission

The Los Angeles Lakers’ 2000 championship was a lie? Say it ain’t so. But here is the Finals MVP himself claiming so. Shaquille O’Neal made a major revelation on The Big Podcast when Funny Marco came on. They had a very ‘real’ discussion on what’s real and fake on Marco’s YouTube channel. The YouTuber was vague about it but countered by putting Shaq on the spot. The 4x NBA champion though tackled it in typical Shaq style and fueled the conspiracy theory about the Lakers’ wins being rigged while he was at it.

When Funny Marco asked, “Are you rings real?” Shaq answered, “No,” too easily. He’s not talking about the carats of those four rings. He meant the NBA Finals which Marco said was, “scripted, you knew you was getting them.” Shaq confirmed. So does that mean that faction of conspiracy peddlers are right? The NBA championships are rigged?

Don’t look at Shaq for confirmation. He’s just playing into the hilarious sarcastic theme of Funny Marco’s interviews. He even spun a wild story to make it seem real, dragging his Lakers taskmaster, Phil Jackson into the mess. Just FYI: The 1999-00 season was arguably O’Neal’s best of his career. He was named the All-Star MVP, and regular-season MVP, and led the league in scoring as his Lakers finished with a league-best 67-15 record. He then went on to win his first championship while being named the Finals MVP.

According to Shaq, he knew a grave plot was afoot in 2000 when he heard Gary Viti, the team’s trainer, and head coach Phil booked hotels before the Finals. Shaq claimed they still didn’t know who they were playing till he heard Jackson tell the trainer, “Hey get us some hotels in Indiana because that’s where we’re gonna play in the Finals.” And the Lakers played against the Pacers and won the first title of Shaq and Kobe’s careers. But now Shaq is telling the ‘true story’ behind it.

Shaquille O’Neal comes clean

Shaq left Marco and Adam Lefkoe intrigued like little campers listening to a campfire horror story. And the Lakers’ win being rigged is nothing short of a horror story. Like the Final Girl not realizing the truth till the end, Shaq also didn’t realize it was all scripted till he got to Indiana for Game 1.

After this bombshell, only claimed innocence stating he’s only saying what he overheard. He’s not regretting it though. “I’m glad we beat Reggie Miller,” was his big takeaway.

He’s right though. The Reggie Miller-led Pacers were the best in the East and were slated to go to the Finals, thanks to their 56-26 record, which was the best in the East. No one realized the Shaq and Kobe combination would dominate them the way they did, though.

What was the real conversation he overheard is between Jackson and Viti. This big jokester is only playing into the ‘real’ character that is the theme of Funny Marco’s content. Yet, do you think he’s on to something?