Los Angeles fans were concerned with the sight of Anthony Davis leaving the court in a wheelchair. However, the thought of it seemed to be amusing for NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.
Shaquille O’ Neal opens up on Anthony Davis
The “Inside the NBA” co-hosts could not contain their laughter after Ernie Johnson mentioned the report of Davis needing a wheelchair because of his injury.
“Here’s the play Kevon Looney catches Anthony Davis in the face,” Johnson said. “And he was shaky walking off the floor. In fact, it was reported by Chris Haynes that he was put in a wheelchair and wheeled to a room.”
As soon as E.J. said that, O’Neal was heard crumpling a piece of paper off-camera, perhaps making fun of Davis being seemingly injury-prone and implying that the Lakers star is made of paper.
Moments later, Shaq and Barkley couldn’t stop chuckling, which Kenny Smith and a stoic Johnson noticed. The two Hall of Famers weakly tried to do damage control, with the four-time champion saying, “I’m laughing at Chuck.”
However, Barkley passed the buck by stating, “Shaq is over there crumpling up paper. That’s why I was laughing.”
However, that didn’t end there because they kept chuckling even when the discussion had already shifted to another topic.
Considering that Davis was in danger of sustaining a serious head injury, O’Neal’s and Barkley’s actions appear to be in poor taste. It’s unclear, though, if they knew its severity at the time of the show. Fortunately, the eight-time All-Star looks like he won’t have to spend a long time on the sidelines, as Lakers coach Darvin Ham provided an optimistic update about his status.
