The Inside the NBA crew played a pretty great April Fools’ Day prank on Shaquille O'Neal last night. They showed him a fake 'Top 10 Centers' list by Bleacher Report with Shaq at the No. 9 spot — behind the likes of David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning, and, of course, his favorite center in the world: Dwight Howard!
Despite being visibly angry, Shaq stayed pretty quiet while Matt Winer went through the list. Isiah Thomas and Shaq’s Magic teammate Dennis “3D” Scott weren't so quiet.
“Somebody is missing! Somebody is missing!”
They got more vocal throughout, especially when Jack Sikma aka Goldilocks was announced at No. 7.
“Jack Sikma!”
When they revealed it was an April Fools’ Day prank, a relieved-looking Shaq semi-jokingly said he was about to tear the set up.
This reminds me of the story Shaq once told about the Magic drafting Chris Webber after he told management that if they didn’t draft Penny Hardaway, he would be looking at other teams when his contract was up. When David Stern announced Webber as the No. 1 pick, Shaq tore up his living room. 10 minutes later, Stern announced that the Magic were trading Webber to the Warriors for Penny Hardaway. Too bad, Matt Winer and 3D weren’t in Shaq’s living room that day to give him the updated news before he threw a TV.
As for the rest of that April Fools’ list, at least they had Shaq ahead of No. 10 Brad Miller, who Shaq once almost killed when he threw a sucker punch at him.
SHAQ’S TOP 5
So who would Shaq place on his Top 5 Centers of All-Time list?
Assuming his opinion hasn't changed since 2011, he picked Hakeem at No. 1, followed by Wilt, Kareem, Bill Russell, and Fo, Fo, Fo Moses Malone.
WHO IS JACK SIKMA?
I'm assuming you don't know much about the very underrated Sikma.
Here's some interesting information about him: Sikma was 6’11, a great rebounder — led the league in defensive boards twice — and found early success in the NBA. After averaging 14 and 11 during his rookie season, he made the first of seven All-Star appearances in his second season, which ended with an NBA championship.
After nine seasons in Seattle, where he made only 4 three-pointers, he was traded to the Bucks and decided to expand his game by showing off his range. After making seven out of 68 threes in his first 11 seasons, he made 195 out of 550 threes in his final three. Yes, you read that correctly. Sikma went from averaging 0.2 three-point attempts a game to 3.2.
What really made Sikma a special big man was his great free-throw shooting. So great, he’s the only center in NBA history to lead the league in free throw percentage (.922).
Sikma is also well-known to Bulls and Michael Jordan fans because he was involved in a trade rumor that would have sent Sikma to Chicago and Jordan to Seattle. Thankfully for Bulls fans, it didn't happen. What did happen was this...
And this is what Jordan thinks of Jack Sikma pic.twitter.com/ChhYVF4YCD
— David Astramskas (@redapples) November 14, 2017
