Another year, another opportunity for Kenny Smith to enact festive violence on Shaquille O'Neal.
On a recent installment of NBA on TNT, Smith exploited the presence of the huge Christmas tree in the studio by luring O'Neal over to the tree with the promise of gifts for his co-hosts. "I have gifts for Christmas," he told them as he exited his chair and walked over to the tree. "Shaq, I can't get yours, it's too heavy." He told Shaq to hurry up as he casually walked over and told Smith he appreciated the gesture.
As O'Neal's back was turned, Smith quickly pushed him into the tree once again. The studio erupted in laughter as Smith said, "Every year we get him, baby! We get him once a year, baby. He's a sucker for gifts!" Between all the laughter and yelling, we were treated to an action replay of the moment and a comical shot of O'Neal laying in the tree with a smile on his face.
"You got me again, Kenny," O'Neal admitted. Charles Barkley attempted to get things back on track and said, with a straight face, "It was interesting first half of that game." They tried to engage O'Neal with the rest of the conversation, but instead, he decided to accept his fate and lay in the tree some more.
This isn't the first time Smith has pushed O'Neal into a Christmas tree, as he previously did it in 2022 and in 2014 before that, although that time Smith insisted it was an accident. Perhaps the promise of Christmas gifts was all too tempting for O'Neal this time around.
