When Shaquille O’Neal's naked Brazilian wrestling at Phoenix Suns was revealed by Alvin Gentry: “He’d be stark naked… take you to the floor...”

Former Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry revealed in an interview that NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal had a habit of engaging in what has been called “naked Brazilian wrestling.”

O’Neal played for the Phoenix Suns for two seasons before moving on to the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, it turns out, the LA Lakers legend left quite an impact on the team. According to Alvin Gentry, O’Neal would regularly challenge his teammates to naked wrestling.

"The thing that he did that he got to be notorious for is that, every few days or every week or so, he would decided that it was time for this Brazilian naked wrestling contest. You didn't know who the chosen one was, but what would happen when you least expect it, this 7-foot, 310-pound guy would turn the corner, and he would be stark naked and he would run right at you full speed, grab you, he would take you to the floor and then he would do about five rollovers with you. And he would always tell our trainers who it was going to be, so they were always prepared for it, but you never knew who it was going to be."

Needless to say, the thought of a naked Shaquille O’Neal charging at someone is quite fearsome, to say the least.

Shaquille O’Neal once put a Phoenix Suns teammate pass out

Shaquille O'Neal's time with the Suns was marked by injuries and a lack of on-court success. He played in just 53 games in his first season with the team and missed a significant amount of time due to a hip injury.

The Phoenix Suns struggled to find their rhythm and missed the NBA playoffs for the first time in over a decade. O'Neal's second season with the team was equally disappointing, as he played in just 37 games and the Suns again missed the playoffs. After two seasons with the team, O'Neal was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As it turns out, O’Neal also made his Phoenix Suns teammate Gordan Giricek pass out during training.

On the set of Inside the NBA, Grant Hill mentioned:

“It was April 2008. Imagine the Suns environment after a crushing Game 1 loss at San Antonio when Tim Duncan made a game-tying overtime 3-pointer to spur his team to victory. There was an awkward discomfort about the off days in San Antonio and a sense that an ashen Mike D’Antoni was coaching the team for a final time. Who knew just how much he was handling?”

“It turns out O’Neal and Gordan Giricek, who had been with the Suns for all of six weeks, mixed it up verbally during a closed practice to the point that O’Neal auditioned for his WWE future. He put Giricek in a sleeper hold, except it was no fake. Giricek passed out. Giricek played in the remainder of the season, but it was his last NBA season.”

O'Neal has trained in mixed martial arts, and that sleeper hold was technically sound enough to pass one out.