NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has landed himself in some major trouble. The fall of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, in 2022 took the financial markets across the world by storm. It seems some people are still bearing the brunt of FTX’s failure. Tom Brady, Shaq, and Stephen Curry were some of the biggest names associated with FTX. While Curry and many others have already been served their notices by the defendants of the lawsuit, Shaq is posing some problems.

The authorities have tried to reach out to the NBA legend in person for quite some time now. Apparently, the four-time NBA champion is not complying which has urged the authorities to take some major steps. However, it seems like the big man is safe, for now.

NBA Legend Shaquille O’Neal dodges a major bullet amidst controversy

FTX is still missing around $8.9 billion in customer funding despite it being months after the founder declared bankruptcy. Amidst all such issues, the authorities are unable to contact Shaquille O’Neal.

It seems the Los Angeles Lakers legend is evading being served. According to the reports, authorities have contacted Shaq on eight occasions in his Texas home. However, the Hall of Famer has not complied.

As a result, the lawyers want to serve Shaq through his personal social media accounts. Moreover, lawyers have revealed that they have already contacted the veteran via attorney emails and personal messages on social media.

The judge presiding over the case certainly wasn’t happy with how things are developing. Judge K. Michael Moore strongly bashed these ‘alternative means’ in a statement.

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According to Katherine Ross of blockworks.co, the judge wrote, “The attempts to serve O’Neal through his social media accounts were ‘factually unsupported and legally insufficient. Particularly in such a complex and costly litigation for all parties involved, the Court will not continue to tolerate such violations or frivolous arguments.'”

This might be a blessing in disguise for Shaq. In case the authorities fail to contact Shaq by April 17th, the case will proceed without his inclusion. Stephen Curry, Tom Brady, and Gisele Bundchen have already been served among many other notable athletes.

Shaq put in a crazy bid despite legal trouble

The NBA playoffs are right around the corner and naturally, the ‘Inside the NBA’ boys are very excited. When the Atlanta Hawks took on the Miami Heat in the play-in game recently, Shaq and Charles Barkley did something unthinkable.

Before the game, Barkley predicted the Heat to take care of business while Shaq thought otherwise. He urged Barkley to bet on the Hawks and that’s exactly what the former MVP did. This wasn’t just any other bid, it was a $1 billion dollar bet!

“Whatever you want to, a Billion dollars”, replied Barkley when Shaq asked him to bet. Interestingly, the Hawks and Trae Young proved Barkley wrong as they beat the Miami Heat 116-105.

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However, O’Neal receiving the $1 billion is not a certainty and there have been no reports of the same yet. We’ll have to wait and see whether Barkley stays true to his word.