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3 Days After Shaquille O’Neal’s Threatening Remark, Charles Barkley’s Peculiar Tribute to Lakers Legend Resurfaces Online

Published 08/14/2023, 5:40 AM EDT

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They may no longer be opponents on the court, but Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal will never stop taking shots at each other. O’Neal even threatened to knock Barkley out just three days back after the 60-year-old’s apparent rude behavior was brought to light. With the recent back and forth of the ‘Inside Guys’ escalating hilariously, fans reminisced about an incident from the past. It put a spotlight on Barkley’s infamous love for golf and it’s doing the rounds on the internet once more.

‘Sir Charles’ loves golf, but golf doesn’t love him back. His fellow NBA players who enjoy swinging their clubs on the greens have pleaded with him to retire from his second sport. But Barkley has only taken his game up a notch. And he once used Big Diesel’s head for it.

Charles Barkley took a literal shot at Shaquille O’Neal

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‘The Round Mound of Rebound’ has acquired a bad reputation in the golf world. He shares a love for the sport like other NBA stars like Michael Jordan. He’s killed fans with secondhand embarrassment every time he picked up a drive. But like the tenacious athlete he still is, Barkley kept at it, even though his frenemies implore him to give it up.

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His questionable love for golf is coming up in a new context now. Barkley has been trading jabs with Shaquille O’Neal on Inside the NBA as is their longstanding friendly tradition. He hasn’t tasted sweet victory recently but there was a time that Barkley did get a shot at O’Neal, thanks to a little help from his golf buddy.

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Fans are reliving that hilarious moment immortalized on the Internet when the ‘Chuckster’ showed off his custom Callaway Chrome Soft golf balls with Shaquille O’Neal’s face on it. We know Barkley took great pleasure in hitting them that day.

The incident is from 2020 when Barkley collaborated with Phil Mickelson for The Match. They were against Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning in the charity event. To commemorate their partnership, Mickelson gifted Barkley the Shaq balls as an extra incentive to not miss.

The Inside Guys did the broadcast remotely during the 2020 pandemic. Barkley was on the course showing off the golf balls to his colleagues. “This the ugliest ball in the world right here,” he said to the real Shaq’s face.

The Inside Guys still rib Barkley

Shaquille O’Neal shouldn’t be calling out Barkley’s golf game. He’s no Big Aristotle of the golf course either. Shaq still loves to claim he’s better at it than Chuck and the latter once accused his co-host of faking his golf skills for Instagram clout while on Inside the NBA.

Their banter continues in 2023 and Barkley is still losing. A couple of days ago O’Neal playfully slammed Barkley for his treatment of Sammy Hagar.

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The Inside Guys joined the remote coverage of 2020’s The Match 3 in Arizona. Barkley took the chance to tell them he was tired of his co-hosts making fun of him on air. Even if this little jab was only directed at O’Neal, he seized the opportunity and loved it.

But Shaq will never let his buddy have the last word. He came back with, “Chuck, if you can’t read words, how are you going to read greens?” as per Golf.com. Did anyone give Barkley ice after that burn?

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Trash talking and potshots aside, Barkley had the last laugh. Competitive even in golf, he won The Match 3 with Mickelson and salvaged his pride.

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Written by:

Caroline John

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Caroline John is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. She has been covering athletes outside the sports arena since the start of her reporting career. A writer at heart, she graduated with a degree in journalism from a reputed university.
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Edited by:

Aayush Kapoor