Shaq is a betting man, but not much of a gambler. You’d only have to watch The Big Podcast to know it. He needed Adam Lefkoe to explain parlays, odds, over-under the works, all for Shaquille O’Neal to put his bet on the Cowboys. That’s it. The Cowboys don’t even have to play for O’Neal to bet on them. He’ll throw in outlandish consequences, too, that have nothing to do with money. That entertainment, though, is why he counts DraftKings among his partners. In light of the FBI’s crackdown on illegal gambling within the NBA and Shaq’s own hard stance on the subject, his former TNT colleague has a warning for him and other NBA pros turned podcasters.

Reggie Miller has gone over to NBC, but he shares his TNT buddies, Shaq and Charles Barkley’s stance on illegal sports betting. He was on Dan Patrick’s show, where the subject of the FBI probe baffled the Pacers legend.

To recap, the FBI made 30+ arrests in a massive illegal betting operation that included New York mafia families as well as people within the NBA. The three names that stood out include Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier, former NBA player Damon Jones, and Portland head coach Chauncey Billups. While Rozier and Jones are accused of manipulating games, Billups allegedly lured NBA players to high-stakes poker games that were supposedly rigged.

Miller made a clear distinction between the cases of Billups and the other two NBA vets. And yet, he couldn’t comprehend the mindset. “I’m wrapping my head around this because I just come back to the reason of *why*—why would someone jeopardize their career and their livelihoods for something like this?”

60-year-old Miller also implies that he, Patrick, and Billups come from an era that made them fearful of this stuff (that even Charles Barkley admitted he took money under the table in college decades later). Or as he phrased it, “you weren’t even almost allowed to say the word ‘bet.’ It was like a taboo.”

Times have changed now, as he noted, “In today’s society, with partnerships with FanDuel and DraftKings and all these betting sites, it’s very murky.”

Note, Rozier and Jones are facing wire fraud and money laundering charges in relation to faking injuries to get the under or selling information to bookies that is not public. Bookmaker sites like FanDuel and DraftKings offer legitimate, NBA-approved, regulated sports betting. They’re co-sponsors of the league and going through them is not illegal, and they sponsor many NBA-adjacent media.

FanDuel has Run it Back, BetMGM works with KG Certified, and DraftKings collaborates with All the Smoke and The Big Podcast. Miller is not casting assumptions on them. He is not wrong in feeling that this gambling situation heightens scrutiny on these partnerships, and NBA players would have to be a lot more careful even when working with legitimate betting partners. That would include Shaq too.

Shaq’s got a strict stance on betting

Unlike Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal has absolutely no clue how to bet on sports. He doesn’t even know how much money he’d get if he won. He just needs to say, “I’m going Cowboys.” He doesn’t need to know injuries, lineups, odds, anything.

Last week, he riled up Philly fans in Philadelphia in front of Eagles mascot Gillie Da King by declaring they won’t make it to the Super Bowl. If he loses, he’d go “butt naked” in Philly. For NFL opening week, he bet that if the Cowboys lost to the Eagles, he’d dress up in Chuck’s black dress from the 2012 Weight Watchers commercial. He still hasn’t held that end of the deal, but this entertainment is what makes up every DraftKings segment on The Big Podcast.

They’ve been his partners for a while. Until last season, when the pod was still under TNT property with the NBA media rights, Adam Lefkoe came up with parlays to help Shaq. The Big Podcast returned without Lefkoe and his parlays. But DraftKings is still involved.

The gambling probe and arrests have changed the atmosphere. The Inside Guys had very strong reactions to it, but Shaq’s was the harshest. 

“We all know the letter of the law when it comes to gambling and sports gambling, and I don’t want to sit up here like I’m some perfect guy,” O’Neal said on Inside the NBA on ESPN. He even referenced the nature of Billups’ case when he said, “Every now and then, when I go to Vegas, I’ll play some craps and I’ll play some roulette, but I never gambled at anyone’s house. Don’t know anything about poker.”

The 4x NBA champion further shamed the indicted people by saying, “There’s an old saying in the ‘hood: ‘All money ain’t good money. So if you’re making $9 million … like, how much more do you need? Especially if you know you get caught, you could do jail time, lose your career, put a bad image on yourself, your family, or on the NBA.” He’d double down on this stance during his appearance on Today too.

Almost echoing Shaq’s sentiments, Reggie Miller was in disbelief over Rozier, Billups, and Jones risking their careers for this. However, like Michael Cooper (who was inducted into the Hall of Fame with Billups in 2024) and others, it’s tougher seeing a friend in that position. “I’m somewhat sad with the Chauncey thing because we’ve known Chauncey for a while. He is one of the best dudes you’ll know. And again, we don’t know everything.”

Miller does reveal one of the league-wide consequences this situation brings. Athletes would probably be wary of their sponsorships going forward.

Shaq didn’t take names, but his anger became a viral subject. Whether this will change anything regarding The Big Podcast is unclear.