Besides his musical performance, the Hall of Famer creates buzz when he pokes fun at the Los Angeles Lakers' trade with the New Orleans Pelicans during his opening monologue.
- Jun 25, 2019
AceShowbiz - There were a lot of memorable moments at the 2019 NBA Awards on Monday, June 24, but no one would have expected to see Shaquille O'Neal flaunting his musical ability onstage. The Hall of Famer did just that when he took the stage at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California before delivering his opening monologue.
Chris Tucker first took the stage to deliver a few minutes of stand up routine, before Shaq crashed the stage and proceeded to launch into his own NBA-inspired version of Migos' 2018 track "Stir Fry". He rapped in autotune, "NBA Awards make some noise," as the audience was seen laughing over his performance. Not stopping there, he then showed off his dancing skill alongside backup dancers.
After his musical performance, Shaq moved on to his opening monologue, poking fun at his fellow basketball stars including Kobe Bryant and Charles Barkley. Talking about Los Angeles Lakers' trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, he quipped, "Yeah, they had to give up a lot. They literally had to cut their 'balls' off to make this trade." At this time, a side-by-side photo of Lonzo and LaVar Ball was projected onto the screen behind him.
Both his performance and his trade joke got the social media talking, with one saying, "Shaq rapping at the NBA Awards is like competing in your high school talent show after you finish grad school." Another said that the 47-year-old sports analyst deserved an award for his "ball joke," as one other deemed his joke "horrible," yet "so funny."
Another funniest moment at the award-giving event happened when Kenny Smith and Charles introduced a new "Shaq", who was actually comedian Jay Pharoah, for their great "Inside the NBA" show. The camera then panned to show the 31-year-old busting out his Shaq impersonation, which he has previously shown on "Saturday Night Live".
