Shaquille O’Neal is apparently a hard man to please.
The NBA great is a four-time world champion, three-time Finals MVP, and earned 15 All-Star selections.
It is quite the resume, worthy of legendary status and gives Shaq the right to share the odd hot take.
The TNT Sports analyst is fond of exercising that right and appears to have dunked on a nine-time All-Star on Instagram.
O’Neal shared a post bemoaning the end of an era in the NBA on LeBron James‘ 40th birthday.
A host of superstars and their ages were featured, including 36-year-olds Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook.
It was also pointed out that James Harden is 35 and Chris Paul is 39.
But eagle-eyed fans noticed a stray phrase in the middle of the post: “Paul George is a**.”
Fans were torn over whether 52-year-old O’Neal had seen the joke and shared it anyway or missed the cheeky comment entirely.
“Why pg catch a stray,” commented one fan on X.
“Genuinely think he didn’t read the PG bit and just posted it,” added another.
“I’m 100% sure Shaq decided to post after reading the PG bit,” a third wrote.
GettyGeorge has struggled offensively this season[/caption]
“Bruh it took me two takes to see the PG comment Unc is on one,” a fourth laughed.
George passed Vince Carter to go ninth in the all-time rankings for three-pointers made in December.
The Philadelphia 76ers forward is looking to win an elusive first NBA Championship.
He has only failed to make the All-Star team three times in his career – in 2015, 2020, and 2022.
George is part of a formidable trio that includes Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey but has struggled to contribute as much as he would like offensively in his first season with the team.
“I think we’re all still trying to learn what’s going on,” coach Nick Nurse admitted after Saturday’s win over the Utah Jazz.
“He seems to come out really aggressive at the start of the game and then he’s had some long stretches of being pretty quiet.
“I do think that a situation like tonight—I mean, the mid pick-and-roll game was so deadly, it was hard to kind of really go away from it.
“But he still was a pretty key factor as part of that, because they can’t really cheat off him to come in to guard Joel (Embiid) on that, too.
“We’re still learning it, and I think there’s going to be some times where he’s gonna have to probably take over and score some of those critical buckets.”
