Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal’s dynamic makes for one of the most entertaining aspects of Inside the NBA. For years now, the two have shared laughs together on air and traded verbal jabs from time to time. The two share a kinship, though, which was established during their days as NBA players. O’Neal was recently asked about his relationship with Barkley and had no problem sharing love for him. At the same time, the Magic-turned-Lakers player also shared a funny story involving his mother and Barkley’s mom as well.
It goes without saying that the aforementioned hall-of-fame basketball veterans are both larger-than-life personalities, which makes it so entertaining whenever they do clash. Ryan Clark is aware of the dynamic between Shaq and “Chuck” as well as how they interact with their Inside co-hosts, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith. Clark went on to flat-out ask if he likes Barkely. The Diesel confirmed that he does like his on-screen partner, who actually makes Shaq remember one thing he doesn’t have:
Chuck makes me wish I had a bigger brother. I don’t know what it feels like to have a bigger brother.
Despite that, Shaquille O’Neal went on to explain during the interview (a portion of which is on X) that he and Charles Barkley have come to blows before. O’Neal illustrated that by recalling one particularly iconic in-game skirmish, which took place in 1999. At the time, Barkley was playing for the Houston Rockets, while O’Neal was with the Lakers. The brawl began after Barkley threw a ball at O’Neal, who got him with a hard foul. That’s what viewers saw on TV, but what they didn’t see was how their moms intervened after Shaq retaliated:
By the time I got to the locker room, my Uncle Jerome – y’all know Uncle Jerome – he hands me the mom. My mom and Charles’ mom, who’ve been best friends for 20 years – I never knew – both of them [are] on the fucking phone. [Someone said,] ‘Y’all cut that shit out.’ [I said,] ‘Hello? Who’s this?’ ‘This your mama.’ ‘And this is Charles’ mama. Don’t you hit my baby!’ So, now, the love we got for my mama… I’m not gonna disrespect my mama and damn not gonna disrespect his mama.
The four-time NBA champion went on to say that Charles Barkley had also spoken to his mother by that point. So when Shaq and Barkley later met in the hallway, all they could do was laugh in regard to the fact that they share the “mama’s boy” title. Both men have certainly found common ground since then. They’ve participated in numerous antics on Inside the NBA to the point where a viral Shaq/Barkley clip circulated when it seemed the show would be canceled. On top of that, the two motivate each other, with O’Neal joking that he realized he needed to lose weight after gaining a physique similar to Barkley’s.
Put simply, there are too many great moments between the two to even mention. From Shaq chastising Chuck about not knowing what it means to “slide into the DMs” to Barkley roasting the big man for needing to use the bathroom amid a telecast, there’s a lot of history here. They have a firm relationship, which Shaq went on to perfectly sum up:
Do I like him? I love the motherfucker. He’s a great guy, and he makes me say, ‘Man, if I had a big brother, I wish I had a big brother like that.’
You’d be hard-pressed to find two people who seem to have as close a bond as Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal. As a fan of both of them, I’m hopeful that their relationship will continue to endure. I also hope to see that dynamic manifest even more on Inside the NBA, which will return this fall amid the 2025 TV schedule.