OUR FANHOUSE TOOLBAR INTEGRATES THE LATEST SPORTS NEWS INTO YOUR WEB BROWSER AND INSTALLS IN SECONDS.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE TOOLBAR HERE.

NBA

Shaq Might Have Stolen 'Shaq Vs.' Idea From Steve Nash

Posted Aug 20, 2009 12:15PM By Will Brinson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Cavaliers, Suns, NBA Media Watch, NBA Rumors

Text SizeAAA
Shaquille O'Neal's reality television show, Shaq Vs., debuted on Tuesday. I did not watch it, but that's only because there was a rerun of the Fresh Prince rolling on another channel. Still, I heard good things. Like, for instance, "Ben Roethlisberger looks fat!" and "This certainly doesn't suck as bad as Terrell Owens' show!"

High praise indeed; but what might have gone unnoticed by many an eye -- although not the Arizona Republic's Paola Bolvin -- was a familiar name in the credits: executive producer Steve Nash.

Now, before you get all cute and cuddly with some version of, "Wow, Nash does love his old teammate despite what I thought previously about him hating Shaq for being the symbol of the full decline of the Mike D'Antoni era and then forcing the Diesel out by screaming at ownership," you should probably hear this rumor: Shaq stole the idea for the show from Nash.

Bolvin recounts that when Shaq joined Phoenix back in 2008, Nash told him about an idea for a show in which he would play other athletes in various sports (Nash is, as many know, quite adept at playing soccer). Sound familiar? Yeah, exactly. Bolvin goes on to state that Shaq allegedly boarded a team bus, told his teammates about "his idea" and got called out by Nash: "You mean the idea you stole from me?"

Nash then even went so far, supposedly, as to hire an entertainment lawyer, which, according to Bolvin, is how he landed his name in the credits. However, Nash wouldn't confirm the details of the situation yesterday, stating only that, "We collaborated on parts of the show. I support him 100 percent. I thought the first episode was a fantastic episode, and I can't wait for the next one."
Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook
Of course, that's easy to say now with Shaq gone and the television show rolling, but the most important part about the whole supposed debacle is this: when someone stabs you in the back, you stop trusting them. If that person is your teammate on a basketball team and the guy who is supposed to help your squad get back on track, well, that's a big problem, especially as it pertains to team chemistry.

Now, if this went down how Bolvin says it did, there's a good reason to think that part of the Suns' failures with Shaq last year weren't entirely due to the stupid rebuilding philosophy of Steve Kerr and actually caused (to a degree at least) by the rift created between Shaq and Nash over a reality television show.

And to think, Shaq once said it was wrong for Dwight Howard to hijack an already trademarked cartoon logo from his plethora of nicknames.

Update: As Bog devotees may recall, Dan Steinz did an interview with Shaq earlier this year and pointed out that Todd Gallagher had a very similar idea. Now, as to whether Nash ripped Gallagher off ... well, that's total speculation. But it sure seems like Shaq -- based on the notion that Gallagher was considering a lawsuit against O'Neal and his agents -- may have not, ahem, properly cited his sources when "creating" this reality show.

Tags: shaquille+oneal, steve+nash

Related Articles

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments