Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal (Shaq) has earned a lot of goodwill from fans over the years for his colorful commentary and dominant play on the court, but nobody sympathized with him for his on-air gaffe on March 11. During a telecast of “Inside the NBA” on TNT, Shaq referred to Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups as the coach of the Detroit Pistons.
When called out by his panelists over the gaffe, O’Neal made things worse by admitting that he doesn’t watch Pistons games.
“So, who’s the coach? J.B. Bickerstaff — that’s what I meant,” O’Neal said when corrected of his mistake. “First of all, I don’t watch Detroit. How about that? I messed up, okay? I made a mistake.”
“This [expletive] is so embarrassing,” wrote a fan on X. “Just proud to be ignorant about a game he claims to love and gets paid millions to analyze. Shaq is one of the reasons I fell in love with the game but hes such an awful commentator.”
Shaq Called A ‘Sad Clown’ For Mistake
Detroit radio personality Jim Costa took serious exception to O’Neal’s decision not to follow the Pistons, pointing out that Bickerstaff’s team has been one of the NBA’s hottest teams. As of March 12, the Pistons
had the fifth-best record in the league (23-11) in 2025 and were just a game behind the fourth-seeded Bucks in the East.
Costa referred to O’Neal as a “sad clown” in a furious comment.
“Shaq is a sad clown,”
he wrote on X. “Couple weeks ago he called the Pistons boring yet openly admits he doesn’t watch and thinks Chauncey is the coach Only 3 East teams have more wins. They lock in on defense, throw lobs in transition. His loss.”
Another fan, Apex Jones, called O’Neal “trash as a hoops analyst.”
“Everybody knows Shaq is trash as a hoops analyst, but this is just embarrassing,”
he wrote. “Chauncey Billups has never coached Detroit. You know Ernie & gang gone roast the [expletive] outta big fella next show. Candace said “No I can’t let this go.”
‘You Can’t Make This Up’
Content creator
LegendOfWinning, who posts NBA-related videos across social media, felt that O’Neal’s ignorance was hurting the sport.
“You can’t make this up,” he wrote on X. “Shaq doesn’t know who coaches the Pistons. Players are only relatable to him if they are compared to 90s players Openly admits he doesn’t watch Detroit after he called them “boring” The Pistons’ season is one of the best stories in the NBA and this is how they are being discussed.”
Clutch Points’ Erik Vincent earlier criticized O’Neal for not respecting the Pistons, one of the best success stories of the 2024-25 NBA season.
“This is why the league and why NBA media coverage is suffering,” he wrote. “Shaq’s just ripping the #Pistons with no real logic and clearly doesn’t watch the team. This is so lazy and ridiculous.”
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