If you were to make a list of players who have stepped up for the Boston Celtics this season, Baylor Scheierman would be near the top.
Yet despite posting four double-doubles since Feb. 4 and averaging 9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.7 threes over his last 15 games — draining at least one three in each of them — it appears that Shaquille O’Neal has some studying to do when it comes to the second-year wing.
During the Inside the NBA halftime show on ESPN, O’Neal was shown a highlight of Scheierman streaking ahead for a transition dunk and responded accordingly.
“I don’t even know who this kid is,” Shaq said.
Ernie Johnson gave him the name. It didn’t take.
“I ain’t never going to let anyone named Baylor or Scheierman score on me,” O’Neal replied. “Scheierman? Who he play for?”
Shaq admitted that he had no idea who Baylor Scheierman was during Celtics-Cavs halftime highlights.
Scheierman finished the game with 16 points and 10 rebounds for Boston. #NBA
(h/t: @CelticsAdam34) pic.twitter.com/rjvhRxlsRl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 9, 2026
Scheierman plays for the Boston Celtics. He was the 30th overall pick in the 2024 draft out of Creighton, who started 16 games this season. He is not a fringe player on a middling team. He is a rotation piece on one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
In the second half, Scheierman made it harder to stay indifferent. He buried three of his four threes after the break, finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes, and spent stretches checking Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.
While nobody is going to confuse Shaquille O’Neal for Zach Lowe anytime soon, not knowing who Scheierman is qualifies as a fairly significant oversight. The Celtics lost Jayson Tatum to a torn Achilles in last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals, and Scheierman has been one of the players who filled the void in his absence. He has been a fixture in the rotation for months.
This is not the first time Shaq’s preparation has come into question. Last March, he credited Chauncey Billups as the Detroit Pistons’ head coach on national television — Billups coached Portland before being entangled in a federal gambling investigation — and when Candace Parker corrected him, he said “First of all, I don’t watch Detroit.” He had also gotten the Pistons’ record completely wrong on his podcast that week while dismissing them as “boring.”
The Pistons went on to make the playoffs.
Taking a step back, we all know that Inside the NBA did not become the most popular studio show in sports because of its robust Xs-and-Os analysis. The show has been built on the personalities of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal because they are funny and entertaining, and whatever they say demands attention. And in fairness, Inside the NBA has leaned into its lack of deep knowledge of the NBA with viral clips like “Who He Play For?”, which have created classic moments and memes.
But there is a difference between not knowing which team Aaron Brooks is on and not recognizing a second-year player in the middle of a double-double against the team you are literally covering at halftime.
That’s not going to stop Shaq from not watching, of course. It never does.