1 IN Inside the NBA The show we see today with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neill is a well-oiled machine that never fails to entertain.
However, this does not mean that there were no bumps in the road.
In the recent appearance of All the smoke podcast, Kenny Smith shared some amazing stories about Shaq, who joined the cast in 2011 and what those early days were like when Diesel had to mingle with an already established crew.
“Shaq was coming and it was Shaq,” Smith said. “Shaq is a movie. 10 people enter. He set up a hookah salon in the studio and they allowed him to do so. He said, “I have to get my hookah.” So he has a hookah lounge outside and they put a TV outside the studio. We have a green room. Like, yo, me and Chuck in the green room. We have been doing this for 15 years together. This guy will come in, build him a hookah salon? For example, what the hell was going on?
Smith also explained how O’Neill would come to work with a large entourage and that Barkley did not like it all.
So one night Barkley and Smith saw an opportunity to jump on Shaq and did.
“So he’s not watching the games right now,” Smith told Shaq. “He is a DJ. Literally DJ equipment. Children are not you. He practiced his DJing while the game continued.
“They let him get away with it because he’s Shaq. And now he’s coming on the show and saying something like, “DeAndre Jordan has to,” but DeAndre Jordan hasn’t played tonight.
“So, me and Charles, because we’re sitting next to each other, I hit him and he hits me. They went, take his ass todayd. We just got on fire with him. And now we are talking about the match, because we know that he did not watch.
“Then our producer goes downstairs and says, ‘What the hell is going on?’ You all make it difficult. You embarrass him on national television.
“Like, ‘Wow, wow, wow.’ Why don’t we make fun of each other when you don’t know each other …?
“And then the producer says, ‘You’re right. I’m leaving. Catch it.'”
Smith then explained that from that day on, everything went smoothly with Shaq on board Inside the NBA set.
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Unfortunately, Smith did not reveal whether the hookah salon still exists.
2. Every time JJ Redick scored a victory over Stephen A. Smith First take, Twitter lights up with tweets “Stephen A. will never invite JJ back”. So when Smith appeared in a recent episode of Redick’s The old man and the three of them podcast, Reddick asked Smith if he had ever been threatened with not being invited back.
3. IN New York Post’s Andrew Marchand announces that Charissa Thompson will host the Amazon studio show Thursday Night Football.
4. Joe Madden’s dismissal last week is even sadder than we realized. Shortly before receiving the ax, he acquired the Iroquois as a way to cheer up the fighting team. The players never managed to see the said mohawk.
5. Kyrie Irving woke up on Monday thinking.
6. This week SI Media Podcast includes a talk on the latest sports media news with The bellwith Brian Curtis. Among the topics covered:
- What went wrong between Drew Bryce and NBC
- Is the NFL mass channel ready to take a risk with Pat McAfee?
- ABC / ESPN NBA Finals studio show
- Does LeBron receive a podcast?
- Excessive use of “breaking news” banners on television
After talking to Curtis, Sal Lika from WFAN / SNY in New York joined me in our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week we’re doing a deep immersion in Kevin Durant’s response to Sal on Twitter and saying that sports talk radio “disgusts him.”
You can listen to the podcast below or download it from Apple, Spotify and Google.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Actor Philip Baker Hall died this weekend. Seinfeld Fans will remember Hall for his role as Detective Scribe in the episode The Library.
Be sure of catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Train Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.