The 2019 NBA Awards Show (finally) arrived on Monday evening and, while the overall focus was on the distribution of the league’s major honors, there is extra time to be filled within the confines of a two-hour television production. With that as the backdrop, there was an amusing opening number to kick things off, featuring Shaq replacing Chris Tucker on stage and breaking into a rap performance.
The Big Diesel gets the #NBAAwards started as only he can! 🕺🎤 pic.twitter.com/heUgCncc0a
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 25, 2019
Shaq has a certain magnetism in all things and the league was clearly banking on that when choosing him to host this particular endeavor. In this case, Tucker was able to do what he does from a comedic perspective and Shaq put on quite a display in rapping to “Stir Fry” with an NBA slant. In addition to the music itself, it is always a wonder to watch the big man move in dancing fashion and fun was had by all.
From there, Shaq turned into “host” mode, putting together a monologue with jokes, some of which landed and some of which didn’t. Still, there was a bit of intrigue as to how the show itself would begin and the Big Aristotle pulled out all the stops in harkening back to his roots as a recording artist.
