Shaquille O’Neal’s facetime to court judge prevented ‘jail-time’ for NBA veteran
NBA champions Stephen Jackson and Shaquille O'Neal became close friends even if they never played together on the same team.
Follow Us
Shaquille O'Neal bailed out NBA champion Stephen Jackson once
Shaquille O’Neal has a lot of friends he has made over the course of his life. His friends from the league might be few, but they are some of his closest people. The likes of Charles Barkley and LeBron James developed from being colleagues and teammates, to almost family. But his relationship with Stephen Jackson just happened, despite never playing or working together.
The NBA champion and his business partner Matt Barnes were guests on the Big Podcast with Shaq. It is the first time the two came up on the Diesel’s show. The trio, alongside host Adam Lefkoe, talked about all things in sport and their lives as the audience listened.
When talking about some quick stories the trio remembers from their times on the basketball court, Stephen Jackson thought of sharing something that showed him what a true friend Shaquille O’Neal is.
I had a little court situation, one of many, that I was in court. The Judge told me, ‘Would you please stand, Mr. Jackson’. I’m like, ‘You ain’t going to give me a chance to say anything, right?’. (The judge replied) ‘Just stand please’. He picked his phone up, he turned the phone around and it was Shaq on facetime. He dropped all my stuff right there. He’s like, ‘It’s good you know people like Shaq’.
Stephen Jackson on his court situation
Shaq called the judge and got Stephen off the hook ?
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) October 25, 2024
Watch out new episode ft. All the Smoke here: https://t.co/UFpNzWtPtn pic.twitter.com/kmZPKPXAA9
The four-time NBA Champion then asked for this clip to be deleted. At that moment, all present in the conversation ended up laughing hysterically. As they knew it was incredible for the big man to call up a judge and ask for a favor. Unreal, when considering the two were opponents in their careers than friends.
Shaquille O’Neal and Stephen Jackson battled in title winning seasons
In today’s NBA, respect and admiration between opponents is widely evident. But up until a couple of decades ago, this was not the case as rivals generally got themselves into feuds. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, two teams dominated the NBA title runs, the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs.
At the time, Shaquille O’Neal was the big dawg on the Lakers squad, leading them to a three-peat. After their three-peat, they wanted to win a fourth title. But in their quest to do so, they faced Stephen Jackson and the Spurs. They lost in the conference semifinals and O’Neal never won a title again with the Lakers.
Ironically, the previous year, O’Neal and his teammates booted the Spurs in the same round. Both times, the advancing team won the NBA title. It seems their friendship started from those years, as both saw the competitive side of each other, as well as the human side.
Stay Updated!
Joseph Varghese
(2393 Articles Published)