Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley have made a habit of arguing with each other on the TNT broadcast.
The conversation recently turned to the impact of high school players having success during their first year in the NBA.
"I've been in the NBA for 40 years and the only guy who came in and was great right away and that was LeBron," Barkley said. "Kobe struggled. Kevin Garnett struggled."
O'Neal then interrupted by saying he didn't his first season in 1992-93. Barkley quickly said O'Neal played in college, thus eliminating him from the conversation. Barkley took it a step further by criticizing O'Neal's first year with the Orlando Magic.
"You wasn't Shaq in the beginning," Barkley said. "He was more Clark Kent than Superman. "Did y'all make the playoffs your rookie year?"
O'Neal was an All-Star starter as a rookie but the Magic did not make the playoffs.
A LOOK INTO THE RODMAN'S LIFE
NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman was one of the most bizarre players in league history.
He had the colored hair, tattoos and piercings. He dated Madonna. He once wore a wedding dress. Among the crazy stories is the time Rodman having a sexual encounter with Carmen Electra in the middle of a flight.
Longtime NBA writer Mike Wise told the story during an interview with Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He said it played a role in Rodman's agent dropping representation.
"He was dating Carmen Electra at some point," Wise said. "Dwight Manley, his agent at the time. told me, I said, `Why did you stop representing him?' He goes, `I stopped representing him when he was having sex with Carmen Electra in the middle of a private plane and I just said, `It's too much. I was like, `I guess that's when you drop your client."
In an email to Back In The Day Hoops On SI, Manley clarified he continued to represent Rodman after the flight before eventually parting ways.
The weirdness of Rodman never affected his play. He won five championships while playing for the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. He is considered the greatest rebounder in NBA history. But he's also one of the league's most eccentric players.
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
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