Although it’s the offseason, Shaquille O’Neal still cannot stop making headlines. The former Los Angeles Lakers superstar is always in the news, mostly due to his humor and basketball takes. However, this time around, he’s garnered everyone’s attention due to a very peculiar reason. The former NBA star, who’s huge on Instagram, boasts a thirty-five million following and has raised quite a few eyebrows with his unusual IG stories.

If you follow the big man, you might’ve noticed some rather unusual series of stories on his IG account. It looks like the 53-year-old veteran turned businessman is in some kind of trouble. This came after Shaq posted two weird screenshots about investing in crypto. “Investing in crypto has been one of my biggest decisions.. Thank you @mrsjoyce.. for this opportunity, dm her if you’re interested.” Is what the first story was captioned with a dicey-looking screenshot.

The screenshot featured some unknown, unverified crypto account, with  $55,151.39 in balance. Now, was this real? Nope. However, the other story was even more strange, with Shaq once again tagging Mrs. Joyce. “Guys, don’t miss out. Message her now and start yours I think they’re still giving out bonuses.” That is what the other story reads. Fans were quick to pick up that someone might’ve hacked the former NBA superstar’s Instagram handle.

However, even before his followers could flinch, Shaquille O’Neal’s account was nowhere to be seen. It vanished like it never existed, leaving millions scratching their heads in disbelief. This forced many to assume that his account might have been deleted forever now. So, did Shaq really delete his verified Instagram account? Nope. That’s not what happened. We mean, by looking at his stories, there’s no doubt that the veteran had been hacked, but he did not delete his account. How do we know? Well, here’s how.

Did Shaquille O’Neal delete his Instagram account?

It seems like Shaq isn’t even allowed to rest during the offseason. After being hacked, the big man’s account vanished in thin air, leaving his beloved followers baffled. Does this mean he deleted his account? No, that’s not the case; it seems that Shaq deactivated his account for safety purposes. This clears one thing for sure: the former Lakers star’s account was indeed hacked. However, the good news is that his account has been restored, so he and his fans can finally take a sigh of relief.

In the meantime, the former NBA star was using his other social media account to express his feelings on getting hacked by a stranger. The 52-year-old once again used his humor to update his fans about the situation. “To the people who hacked my IG,” Shaquille O’Neal tweeted, attached with a GIF from the movie “Taken” where Liam Neeson’s character, Bryan Mills, was in a phone call with his daughter’s kidnapper and warns them about the consequences, saying, “I will find you.”

Shaq used that reference as a metaphor to send a sarcastic threat to the hackers. It seems that the threat worked, as his account has now been restored and the stories have been deleted. “Account Secured” is what Shaq’s latest story reads, with a screenshot of this same tweet attached to it. Alas, peace is restored after several hours of panic for Shaquille O’Neal and his fans. Now, will we ever know who hacked into Big Shaq’s account? Probably not. Nonetheless, we’ll keep a close eye on the situation.