Shaquille O'Neal was very confident back in his Los Angeles Lakers heyday that no one would replicate what coach Phil Jackson did in taking a team to four NBA Finals in five years.
Now he might have to pay for it in a very weird way.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr announced via Twitter this week that former NBA veteran David West, who won two titles with Kerr in 2017 and '18, alerted him to a years-old video of Shaq betting against anyone ever doing what Jackson did. Except the video didn't end there.
"If a coach takes a team to the Finals four out of five years," O'Neal says in the old ESPN clip, "I'll kiss his feet. On 'Fear Factor.' With cheese on [them]. I will. It'll never be done again."
Kerr, of course, did just that with the Warriors, guiding Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and the rest of the Bay Area squad to five Finals appearances in his first five seasons running the team. He's already joked about it on Twitter, telling Shaq, "I'm going to do us both a favor and pretend that [David West] didn't send this to me this morning."
Hey @SHAQ, I’m going to do us both a favor and pretend that @D_West30 didn’t send this to me this morning. pic.twitter.com/oFhpTPYjOo
— Steve Kerr (@SteveKerr) July 16, 2019
But O'Neal doesn't appear to be backing away from his bargain. The former three-time Finals MVP told Kerr this week he'll see him on "Fear Factor," which has been cancelled and revived twice since Shaq's days with the Lakers, and asked the Warriors coach to "make sure it's Kraft cheese."
@SteveKerr I guess I’ll c u in fear factor, and make sure it’s kraft cheese lol
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) July 16, 2019
The only one who might have a legitimate beef in this ordeal is Erik Spoelstra, who just barely missed out on coaching Shaq with the Miami Heat. The Heat's coach since 2008-09, Spoelstra actually beat Kerr to the Phil Jackson challenge, taking Miami to four straight Finals from 2011-14 with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. He deserves some kisses, too.