Inside the NBA’s toilet joke featuring Shaquille O’Neal draws uncontained reactions from fans

Inside the NBA took chaos to a new level Tuesday night by rolling a portable toilet onto the set — which Shaquille O’Neal appeared to use live during the broadcast. To sell the bit, the show added toilet sound effects as the Hall of Famer pretended to handle his business on national TV.

Hosts O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith explained that Shaq had a bathroom emergency during Monday’s show — so on Tuesday, they brought the porta potty on air, cracking jokes throughout about how wild the segment had become.

Fans were equally stunned by the skit, which ended with O’Neal walking out with toilet paper hanging from his pockets.

“Shaq pretending to take a dump in a porta potty on Inside the NBA, did I dream that? Or what just happened?” one fan said on X (formerly Twitter).

“Santa works hard, Inside the NBA on TNT works harder,” another said.

“Wolves with no ball movement, but Shaq with the bowel movements!” another fan joked.

Here are other reactions to the segment.

“No one combines sports and comedy like these guys 🤣,” one said.

“He’s a L.A Leaker,” another said.

This season is the final one for the iconic show on TNT, with the broadcast crew expected to move to ESPN next year.

Luka Doncic joins Shaquille O’Neal in elite company on Lakers postseason list

Before Tuesday, Shaquille O’Neal was the most recent Laker to score at least 30 points in each of his first two playoff games with the team — a feat he accomplished in 1997. Before him, only George Mikan had done it, back in 1949.

But Luka Doncic added his name to that short list with another standout showing in Game 2 of the Lakers’ first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, finishing with 31 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists to help tie the series at 1-1.

Combined with his 37-point effort in Game 1, Doncic became just the third player in franchise history to accomplish the milestone.

When asked by Taylor Rooks on TNT about joining that elite company, Doncic shrugged it off.

“That’s fine, but it don’t matter,” he said. “We got to win no matter what. If I have 30 if I have 10 so we just got to win. This isn’t about a player, this is about the team.”

ith the Game 2 win behind them, Doncic and the Lakers now look ahead to Game 3, set for Friday in Minnesota.

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alt=”John Ezekiel Hirro” height=”72″ width=”72″>

John Ezekiel Hirro is an experienced NBA and WNBA journalist at Sportskeeda, with over five years in the field as a news correspondent, sports writer, and Editor-in-Chief. His sports writing career began in high school, where he garnered numerous accolades, including being named the national sports writing champion in 2016.

He earned his journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines in 2024 and served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Varsitarian, the university’s official student publication, for four years—the longest in history.

A passionate basketball enthusiast, he became a fan of the OKC Thunder during the Russ-KD-Harden era. Russell Westbrook, his all-time favorite athlete, impressed him by stepping up as MVP after Kevin Durant’s departure. His current favorite players include Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, who he believes are the future of the OKC franchise.

He excels in game analysis and rapid news story turnaround, drawing inspiration from the journalistic styles of Woj and Shams. He emphasizes thorough research to ensure accuracy in his articles. One of his most memorable moments is Russell Westbrook breaking Oscar Robertson’s record with his 42nd triple-double and securing a 106-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Outside of writing, he enjoys listening to music and creating Spotify playlists.

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Edited by John Ezekiel Hirro