{"id":81055,"date":"2025-06-06T15:33:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/81055\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T15:33:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:33:16","slug":"shaq-crashes-nba-countdown-set-and-tackles-kendrick-perkins-live-on-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/81055\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaq crashes NBA Countdown set and tackles Kendrick Perkins live on air"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Shaqtin&#8217; a fool.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/nba\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NB<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/nba\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"A (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">A<\/a> Countdown crew got a massive surprise when <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/shaquille-oneal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Shaquille O&#8217;Neal<\/a> crashed their set while on air.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"O'Neal made a surprise appearance\" height=\"540\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"X\/@CLUTHPOINTS\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/crop-3267384.jpg\" data-caption=\"O'Neal made a surprise appearance\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/crop-3267384.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>2<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Neal made a surprise appearanceCredit: X\/@CLUTHPOINTS<\/p>\n<p>The 7-foot-1 giant politely shook the hands of Malika Andrews and Bob Myers before making a beeline to Kendrick Perkins.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hello Malika, hello Bob,&#8221; O&#8217;Neal began.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hold this, because I&#8217;m tired of Kendrick Perkins,&#8221; O&#8217;Neal said as he gave Stephen A. Smith his microphone.<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Neal then playfully speared Perkins in the chest, trying to tackle the fellow big man.<\/p>\n<p>The whole crew was laughing.<\/p>\n<p>The Big Aristotle is set to be an employee of ESPN next season when the iconic Inside the NBA flagship program moves from TNT over to ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/charles-barkley\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Charles Barkley<\/a> are all set to follow O&#8217;Neal.<\/p>\n<p>TNT&#8217;s version of the show said goodbye to its home network after the <a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/indiana-pacers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Indiana Pacers<\/a> Game 6 victory over the New York Knicks, putting an end to their run on Turner Sports.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN bought the programming rights to the show beginning next year.<\/p>\n<p>It seems O&#8217;Neal just wanted to get a head start on greeting his new co-workers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"O'Neal and Perkins were playfully joking around\" height=\"564\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"X\/@CLUTCHPOINTS\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-06-05-at-5.19.39_PM.png\" data-caption=\"O'Neal and Perkins were playfully joking around\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-06-05-at-5.19.39_PM.png\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>2<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Neal and Perkins were playfully joking aroundCredit: X\/@CLUTCHPOINTS<\/p>\n<p>And the audience seemed to love it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Shaq just showed up to crash the set of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/NBACountdown?src=hashtag_click\" rel=\"nofollow\">#NBACountdown<\/a> and completely livened up the set,&#8221; one fan posted on X.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And so it begins,&#8221; another fan commented.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Shaq has made his cameo on ABC\/ESPN. Please Disney, don\u2019t ruin Inside the NBA for us. Let Ernie and the boys do their magic,&#8221; one more chimed in.<\/p>\n<p>The feat with Inside the NBA moving to ESPN is that the show&#8217;s new network is going to try and change it.<\/p>\n<p>And that of course would be a huge mistake.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma City Thunder reporter Nick Gallo raves about Jalen Williams&#8217; defensive abilities <\/p>\n<p>NBA&#8217;s Greatest<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1749223996_894_COMP-bulls.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t fix what isn&#8217;t broken.<\/p>\n<p>And by all reports, ESPN plans to leave the show as is.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN and ABC are the home of the NBA Finals between the Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shaqtin&#8217; a fool. The NBA Countdown crew got a massive surprise when Shaquille O&#8217;Neal crashed their set while&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[328,7,75,366,1501,126,364,2058,150,152,18148,6,11739,191,179,279,1714,209,2390,1302,278,18150,18149],"class_list":{"0":"post-81055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-alex-caruso","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-chet-holmgren","12":"tag-finals","13":"tag-indiana-pacers","14":"tag-jalen-williams","15":"tag-kendrick-perkins","16":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","17":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","18":"tag-myles-tuner","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-nba-countdown","21":"tag-new-york-knicks","22":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","23":"tag-pascal-siakam","24":"tag-rick-carlisle","25":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","26":"tag-shaq","27":"tag-shaquille-oneal","28":"tag-tyrese-haliburton","29":"tag-what-channel-is-the-nba-finals-on","30":"tag-what-time-is-the-nba-finals-on"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114637150995307003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}