When Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley were in tears while talking about Anthony Davis' injury in the 2023 NBA Playoffs

“NBA on TNT” analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal couldn’t stop laughing while discussing Anthony Davis' head injury in the 2023 NBA playoffs. The injury occurred in Game 5 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.

Davis had to leave in the fourth quarter due to an apparent head injury he suffered while fighting for a rebound with Kevon Looney.

The 30-year-old big man exited the contest in a wheelchair because he was feeling woozy, per TNT’s Chris Haynes.

After the game, when the show started and analyst Kenny Smith caught both Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley trying not to laugh out loud. None of them mentioned anything on the air, but all reports suggested they couldn't believe it when it was announced Davis had to get to the locker room in a wheelchair.

Even though the injury could have been serious, it didn't cost Anthony Davis any time. Both NBA legends appeared to feel that Davis was feigning the injury and that the wheelchair was overkill.

See the video below:

Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley later went on to explain their behavior, after facing criticism for laughing at Davis' expense.

Shaquille O'Neal addresses laughing out loud while talking about Anthony Davis' injury

Shaquille O'Neal attempted to explain why he was laughing during the show, but never mentioned Anthony Davis:

“It doesn’t matter what we were laughing about. I’m laughing at (Barkley), he’s laughing at me. I’m not going to get into it. I ain’t making fun of nobody, that’s not what I do," he said.

"But I do know you’re not going to stop me from playing in that Game 6. “You see why I walk funny? Because I sucked it up. You see why my toes don’t bend? Because I sucked it up.”

“Shaq is over there crumpling up paper, that’s why I’m laughing,” Charles Barkley said.

This is not the first time the NBA legend had made fun of Anthony Davis being injury prone:

“Yeah, I called him, ‘Street Clothes.’ I mean, he’s been hurt more than he has played,” Barkley told The Times’ Broderick Turner back in October. “I mean, I don’t know if he’s ever played 82 games.”

Anthony Davis LA Lakers (Photo: Glenn James/Getty Images)

Anthony Davis has a long history of injuries that have cost him a significant number of games during his career.

He has missed games with shoulder, hip, knee, ankle, achilles, wrist and hand injuries, never playing a full 82 or even coming close (except twice with the New Orleans Pelicans when he had back-to-back seasons of 75 games played).

It’s not by coincidence that those were the finest seasons of his career, with a combined average of 28 points, 11 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game.

He has played in just 194 of a possible 377 regular season games, but some of those were missed games due to rest and precaution.

In the 2021/22 season, he missed 40 of the Lakers' 82 games. Last season, he played in 56 of the 82 regular-season games. However, he helped the franchise reach the Western Conference Finals.

And even though he has been injury prone, he remains a cornerstone of the Lakers' quest for a record 18th NBA championship.

“He’s the centerpiece of what we’re trying to do on both sides of the ball,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said to reporters after that Game 5, “and for us just in general for our success rate.”

What remains to be seen now is whether Anthony Davis can remain healthy next season, as the LA Lakers will look for another postseason run and a trip to the NBA Finals.