via Imago

Before Shaquille O’Neal’s 52nd birthday on March 6, he had a funny moment with Candace Parker, Jamal Crawford, and Adam Lefkoe, who are all NBA on TNT hosts. Joke or no joke, could it end up costing him too much?

Recently, Jamal Crawford, one of the best ball handlers in NBA history, shared an Instagram post. The post was about Shaq pulling out fake $100 bills on the night before his birthday. Much to his innocence, Jamal Crawford thought the NBA Hall of Famer was being kind.

But Candace Parker busted Shaq when she discovered his fake money prank and exposed him to the cameras, attendees of the show, and the rest of the TNT crew. In fact, Parker alerted Crawford about the fake money by displaying her bills with Shaq’s face on them.

Could this potentially create a major issue for Shaq? According to the 18 U.S. Code § 471 – Obligations or securities of the United States, “Whoever, with intent to defraud, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or with like intent brings into the United States or keeps in possession or conceals any falsely made, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”

Since there is no intent to defraud, he is mostly safe. But Shaq surely knows how to play just about safe. Moreover, it’s not the first time O’Neal has pulled such a prank. Remember when he welcomed Crawford to the show a year ago?

While others warned Crawford to not look O’Neal in the eye, the latter challenged him to do so. What happened after that? Well, an anxious-looking Crawford tried to look Shaq in the eye and at that very moment, popcorn was dumped on him!

“You’re laughing because I wasn’t looking him in his eye,” retorted Crawford. However, Shaquille O’Neal, too, has been a victim of pranks on TNT. Back in April 2022, the show’s panelists Adam Lefkoe, Kenny Smith, and Isiah Thomas reviewed a faux all-time top 10 centers list. As Jack Sikma and Dwight Howard popped up on the list, the panelists roared in disbelief.

O’Neal showed up on the list at no.9 but with a hilarious photo of him embracing a seal. The 10th mention was Brad Miller, with whom Shaq got in a memorable in-game fight in 2002. As they all burst out in laughter, Shaq hilariously stated, “I’m about to tear the set up!”