Angel Reese has spent the past week trying to move on from one hand gesture. On Saturday, Shaquille O’Neal pulled it right back out. He used it on her at the LSU-Alabama game; the clip took off online, and now Shaq has said something about it himself.
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Shaq shared a photo of himself making the same gesture on Instagram and wrote in just nine words, “Don’t believe everything you see on the internet, people.”
The viral video came from Saturday, Nov. 7. LSU hosted Alabama, and coach Lane Kiffin brought out a group of famous guests for the Tiger Walk, including Shaq, Reese, Paul Skenes, Livvy Dunne and Kevin Costner.
On the sideline, Reese pointed her camera at Shaq and told him to say something. He put his thumb and index finger together and gave her own “too small” gesture right back. A clip of the moment spread fast, and several outlets covered it.
The gesture comes from Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. Reese had 21 points and 12 rebounds as the Dream beat the Valkyries 97-71 to take a 2-1 series lead. With less than 30 seconds left, she made the “too small” motion toward the Golden State bench. It was aimed at center Aminata Gueye, who had guarded her and traded words with her for much of the series.
Then the series turned. Golden State won the next two games, Atlanta forced a Game 7, and the Valkyries won it 68-63 on Oct. 31. It was the first Game 7 in Finals history, and it gave Golden State a title in just its second season.
Reese finished with eight points and 12 rebounds. She did not score more than 15 points in any of the last four games, and some fans called her Game 3 celebration the turning point of the series.
Her reaction to Shaq was caught on camera too. She could be heard saying, “it’s okay, it’s okay,” and then pushed her camera toward him, as if she was taking a shot at him. She also swiped at him as he laughed and walked away, and some outlets said she looked annoyed. LSU went on to lose the game 31-13.
The two are very close, though, which is why the joke landed the way it did. Shaq played at LSU from 1989 to 1992 and was the National Player of the Year in 1991. Reese played there for two seasons, won the national title in 2023, and was drafted seventh by the Chicago Sky in 2024.
They met at an LSU football game in 2022, and Shaq signed her to Reebok before she entered the WNBA. In March 2024, he joined her mother to walk her onto the court on Senior Day. Reese has called him a father figure. After the game, Shaq also posted photos and videos from their reunion on his Instagram stories.
Shaq was not the first to bring the gesture back. Gueye posted a photo of Reese’s hand mid-taunt on Instagram right after Game 7, and Tiffany Hayes made the same gesture on an Instagram live while the team celebrated in the locker room. Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg ran onto the court after the win and did it too.
It showed up again at the Valkyries’ championship parade in San Francisco on Nov. 4. Former Warriors center Festus Ezeli held up a shirt with Reese’s gesture next to the crying Michael Jordan meme, and later wore it and did the move for the crowd.
Fans also handed out pink pacifiers with a tag that read, “if found return to: ATL.”
So the gesture that began as a Game 3 flex keeps coming back to Reese, and this time it came from someone in her corner.