‘No need to worry’: TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal sidelined by surgery
After scaring NBA fans with a hospital photo, Shaq said he was “fine” and recovering from surgery.
NBA fans won’t see Shaquille O’Neal on TNT for a while, and it’s not just because of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The Hall of Famer turned studio analyst alarmed the NBA world over the weekend after sharing a photo on Twitter of himself in a hospital bed watching the tournament.
Ernie Johnson, Shaq’s Inside the NBA colleague and longtime friend, said the four-time NBA champ was sidelined after having his hip replaced, which Shaq confirmed Monday night.
Joking that he received a Brazilian butt lift, Shaq wrote he was “fine” and recovering from surgery in an Instagram post. “No need to worry,” Shaq wrote.
It’s unclear how long Shaq could remain out from his gig as a studio analyst on Inside the NBA, which returns March 31 because of the NCAA men’s tournament, which Warner Brothers Discovery Sports broadcasts with CBS Sports. The NBA playoffs begin April 15.
This is Shaq’s 13th NBA season with Inside the NBA, where he appears alongside Johnson, Kenny Smith, and former Sixers great Charles Barkley. Shaq also appears on the network’s Tuesday night coverage with Candace Parker, Jamal Crawford, and Philadelphia native Adam Lefkoe.
In February, Shaq missed an episode of Inside the NBA due to a mild illness and was ruthlessly mocked by his cohosts.
Despite the surgery, Shaq is keeping busy. In addition to his NBA duties, the big man’s fast-casual eatery, Big Chicken, is opening up its first Pennsylvania location in Philadelphia in the the food hall beneath Comcast’s Center City headquarters. The chicken joint is expected to open next month.
Sixers star Julius Erving sits in on NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast
When you can get Julius Erving to sit in on your broadcast, you’re having a good night.
The legendary Sixers star, who most fans know as Dr. J, was part of a halftime celebration of the 1983 NBA championship team at the Wells Fargo Center Monday during the team’s double-overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls.
During the third quarter, Erving sat in with NBC Sports Philadelphia announcers Kate Scott and Alaa Abdelnaby for a lengthy chat, where the Hall of Famer talked about everything from TikTok to the Sixers’ playoff chances this season behind Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
“This is as good a chance as we’ve had in a while,” Erving said.
» READ MORE: Celebration of Sixers 1982-83 championship team merges past with present
Erving also heard how more than 40 years ago, he inspired Abdelnaby — then just 12 years old — to become a basketball player after holding an open clinic at Giants Stadium for underprivileged kids. Abdelnaby walked away with a pair of Erving’s Converse All-Star sneakers and a signed life-size poster, both of which he cherished during his teenage years growing up in North Jersey.
“That poster stayed over my bed until I left for college,” Abdelnaby said. “You’re the reason why I’m here.”
“Man, you can’t make that up,” Erving responded.
Quick hits
More layoffs are coming to ESPN as part of larger cutbacks by parent company Disney. The cuts, which are expected next month, could impact top on-air personalities and executives. “Hell, for all I know, I might be one of them,” First Take host Stephen A. Smith said on his No Mercy podcast. “Now I doubt that. But it’s possible. No one knows.” ESPN has gone through several rounds of layoffs in recent years, including cuts in 2017 that sent big names like Ron Jaworski and Jayson Stark walking.
Speaking of ESPN, there’s been a lot of chatter in sports media circles about changes on Monday Night Football, with the network replacing producer Phil Dean with Steve Ackels and director Jimmy Platt with Derek Mobley. According to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, ESPN knew announcer Troy Aikman wanted a new producer, but didn’t explicitly tell the network to replace Dean. Stephanie Druley, ESPN’s head of studio and event production, pushed back hard against that, telling Awful Announcing in a statement, “We can say unequivocally this decision was made solely by me and our management team. Period.”
So who has been the star of the NCAA Tournament? According to Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski, former Villanova coach turned broadcaster Jay Wright. “He would be nuts to go back,” Sielski wrote. “He has been that good as an analyst, for CBS and Turner Sports, during this season and in this Tournament, sharp and smart and comfortable.”
The Washington Commanders couldn’t come to a deal with NBC Sports Washington, which means the network will stop airing studio shows in April, according to Sports Business Daily’s John Ourand. NBC sold NBC Sports Washington to Monumental Sports & Entertainment last year, reducing the number of regional sports networks to five (including NBC Sports Philadelphia).