It started as an innocent discussion; the all-time Bulls vs. the all-time Lakers. Shaq threw it up on Instagram — probably as a joke — as a way to needle some of his NBA friends. Like many, he believes a team comprised of Magic, Kobe, Kareem, Elgin and himself would crush Jordan, Pippen and the like.
As many of you know, nothing on the Internet is innocent. Over time, everything evolves into Sodom and Gomorrah, with fire and brimstone raining down like Lance Stephenson photoshops.
Pippen was quick to call Shaq’s opinion a hypothetical. Nothing more.
So, Shaq dropped the Puffy-Mase line, calling him a sidekick. This is when things start to get weird.
Scottie had really no recourse but to rip on Shaq’s free throw shooting. A hit below-the-belt.
And went the collage route to call Shaq a sidekick.
Then, Shaq’s photoshop intern (a teenager, most likely) went with this meme.
And that should have been the end of it. That should have been the denouement. Dumb memes have a habit of ruining everything after all. We went from funny to personal to kinda stupid in just a few hours.
But Shaq had one more card to play, an ace up his sleeve.
WINNER: Shaq knockout in the fifth round. What a bloody mess.
Also, this goes without saying, but nobody does off-season social media quite like the NBA.
