Jason Richardson shared a hilarious but shocking story about a prank pulled by Shaquille O’Neal during their time together on the Phoenix Suns.
Richardson’s story revolved around teammate Lou Amundson, who unknowingly became the target of O’Neal’s pranks for an entire season.
“Every time Lou rode his bike to practice, Shaq would hide it somewhere in the arena,” Richardson explained on Entirely NBA, via HoopsHype. “Lou would spend 45 minutes to an hour after every practice trying to find his bike.”
The pranks escalated over time, with Lou eventually deciding to get revenge. He chose to prank O’Neal’s van with aluminum popcorn, not realizing that Shaq wasn’t someone to mess with lightly.
“I warned Lou, ‘This is Shaq. He does crazy stuff. He’s the type to take a dump in people’s shoes and magazines,’” Richardson recalled. Despite the warnings, Lou went ahead with the prank.
What followed was a locker room encounter that no one expected. O’Neal, walking around naked, slowly approached Lou’s locker and left a shocking surprise.
“He pulls a mouthpiece out of his ass and puts it in Lou’s locker,” Richardson said. “Then he grabs Lou’s toothbrush and stirs it in his [expletive].” The entire team, stunned and laughing, was unsure how to respond.
During the game, Amundson unknowingly used the tainted mouthpiece. “The whole bench lost it,” Richardson recalled. “Lou didn’t know what happened until later when we told him Shaq put it in his ass.”
Despite the revelation, Amundson didn’t seem convinced. “Lou just kept saying, ‘Nah, he didn’t,’” Richardson said. “But he put it back in his mouth, and the bench lost it again.”
After the game, Amundson approached Richardson, asking if the prank was true. “I told him straight up, ‘No [expletive], Shaq put your mouthpiece in his ass,’” Richardson said.
As for the aftermath, teammate Matt Barnes had one final piece of advice: “Anything in your locker room has probably been in Shaq’s ass. Throw it all away.”
For Richardson, O’Neal’s pranks were legendary, but this one took the cake. “Shaq was a prankster, but he was the nastiest prankster,” Richardson laughed. “If that was me, there would’ve been a fight.”
