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Hall of Famers Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley have a great relationship that sees the two longtime friends enjoy some playful trash talk. During their playing careers, they squared off on the court 19 times, with O'Neal winning 11 games to Barkley's eight. While the two men now work together on "Inside the NBA," they like to keep things competitive.
Whether it's challenging one another to do something ridiculous, like the time Shaq rode smaller and smaller bicycles, or roasting each other, the duo like to have fun. The one sore spot in the relationship, however, will always remain O'Neal's NBA championship wins. While the Big Diesel won four rings during his career, Barkley failed to capture NBA gold.
The subject has been brought up repeatedly on "Inside the NBA," with Shaquille O'Neal using his championships as a trump card of sorts. During an appearance on Conan O'Brien's podcast during COVID-19 lockdowns, O'Neal didn't hesitate to admit to missing his coworker. Except, in classic O'Neal fashion, he didn't phrase it quite like that.
"I miss his ass," O'Neal said. "He has a flat ass. For a Black guy, he has a flat ass. I always look at him like, 'Maybe some booty shorts or something?' I do. I miss Chuck. Chuck is my annoying best friend. He's funny, he's annoying, he's loud, but, yeah, I miss him. I miss sitting across from him looking at him."
After Conan said that he had spoken to Barkley recently, he shed some light on some accusations Barkley made against O'Neal. According to him, Shaq doesn't use Icy Hot, doesn't eat at Papa John's and isn't insured by The General. Shaq jokingly fired back, defending his investments by saying:
"The General was my first car insurance when I was at LSU," O'Neal said. "IcyHot, I do use IcyHot. I don't use it now because I'm not in any aches and pains, but I know IcyHot works. ... And I do eat at Papa John's. I've always ate at Papa John's."
You can view the hilarious clip in the video above.
Shaquille O'Neal's plethora of investments
While Shaquille O'Neal likes to use his NBA championships as a way to roast Charles Barkley, the Chuckster has some ammo of his own as well. O'Neal's investments in countless businesses see him starring in plenty of hilarious and sometimes cheesy commercials.
(Suggested Reading: Robert Horry with a hot take about LeBron breaking Kareem's record)
The way Shaq sees things, however, the best way to invest your money is to put it into things you know and love. The strategy is one he picked up from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who he gave credit to several years ago in an interview with the Wall Street Journal:
“I heard Jeff Bezos say one time (that) he makes his investments based on if it’s going to change people’s lives," O'Neal said. "Once I started doing that strategy, I think I probably quadrupled what I’m worth.”
From the sounds of things, with Shaquille O'Neal being worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the strategy has paid off.
(Suggested Reading: When Shaq suspected Phil Jackson was a drug user)
