Shaquille O’Neal used to blow up opposing teams’ defensive game plans in his playing days.
Now, he’s blowing up toilets.
While analyzing a compelling Nuggets-Clippers Game 2 matchup on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” alongside the rest of the crew, O’Neal made a hurried, flustered exit.
The fear in his eyes and the peculiarity of his gait signified one thing: a Code Brown. A bathroom emergency.
O’Neal jumped up from his chair and darted across the set with no regard for the show.
“Go ahead, keep talking,” O’Neal urged the rest of the crew while he scurried off.
While also questioning if the big man was alright during his abrupt exit, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley couldn’t contain their laughter.
Smith had no problem airing out the likely culprit of the near-accident.
“It’s that olive oil you’ve been drinking,” Smith said. “Listen, he can’t hold it. After 40 [years old], you can’t hold it anymore.”
Smith revealed O’Neal has been drinking olive oil to “clean his gut.”
“He read somewhere that [it’s good for your gut] if you drink a shot of olive oil,” Barkley added. “You have to do it for two weeks.”
“He’s gonna miss a lot of air time then,” Johnson jokingly responded.
Smith replied, “It’s cleaning his gut alright.”
The hilarious moment culminated with a full-blown replay of O’Neal bolting off from set — he returned and blamed Barkley for talking too much before the upcoming commercial break where he was planning to relieve his bowels.
“Chuck, stop talking so damn much, finish your point so we can go to break,” he said upon returning from the bathroom — while also blaming the emergency on drinking too much water.
“I’m sitting here like, ‘Shut the hell up and hurry up.’ Sorry about that, America.”
It’s the hysterical moments like these that outraged so many people when it was revealed that TNT wouldn’t be renewing “Inside the NBA” for another year.
But luckily for these fans, the show will return after this season — just with a new home of ABC and ESPN.
The popular crew dealt with another recent snafu when Charles Barkley asked if former NBAer Billy Ray Bates was alive, only for O’Neal to wrongly claim he was dead.
Johnson then had to apologize Monday for their mistake.
