Hey, what’s up, fella? Joe, good to see you again. Yeah, I know Ro, good to see you, man. How are you? Beatbox, DJ Diesel.
Makes sense to me. What started the partnership for you and how did you land on this brand? Well, a lot of times I find these things by myself, but shout out to my girlfriend Mark Cuban. They a call one day and he said you DJ a lot. Have you seen the little capris some little things that they’re passing around?
I said, yeah, he says it’s a friend of mine’s company.
I want you to meet with the guys, and I saw what they were doing even before I got involved very impressive, and I tasted the drink and I was like, it tastes really good. I walk around a couple of festivals. How do you like it? We love it.
I asked them if I could be part of the team and help them grow, and we’ve been doing that. — I’ve got my own exclusive — flavor. Shaq, you got the house here now in North Texas.
What has surprised you most in the best way about living here? Well, I’ve been here 30 years in and out.
I just used to come in sporadically, but listen, I’m from San Antonio, so I know about the Texas culture, but people in Dallas have been very nice, very nice, so I’m amazed. I’m 75% want to move here full time to see what’s going on with TNT next year because you know we got a new schedule, a new partner, so we don’t know how that work schedule is gonna go, but based upon that, I’ll, — you’ll probably be seeing a lot more of me — growing up in Texas, you know, is it. bit easier just to move around here as opposed to when you’re in LA or when you’re what I like about Dallas is is is it’s a bunch of mini Dallas Legacy West, Briscoe, Plano, Carrollton, Rockwall where I live at. So you know where I live at in Atlanta is not a lot of mini Atlanta.
It’s Atlanta and in other cities, so, uh.
Fun place to be. Yeah, no doubt about that. You mentioned it before. You guys are gonna be moving from TNT. I know that change part of it may have been difficult, but I work at the ABC affiliate, so we’re thrilled, you know, to have you guys on ESPN and ABC.
I really appreciated what you said going out the door about what your new broadcast partners have to be prepared for. It was very well said. What do you want your fans of the show to know about what it’ll mean for the show moving to ESPN? Well, in order for us to be remembered and not forgotten, we have to remain the same but get better and you know what makes us who we are is.
Shaq’s a Hall of Famer.
Charles is a Hall of Famer. Ernie is a Hall of Famer, and Kenny is a champion about to become a broadcast Hall of Famer. So I think it’s safe to say we know what we’re talking about on the basketball side and. They were very silly. Some people call it humor.
I call it silly. We made a conscious effort for a gentleman like yourself.
You have to get the story, report it, give it to your boss, deal with guys when you get home, you wanna laugh. You want to go ha ha ha ha ha, right? You’re also a sports fan.
You wanna watch a good game, but if you don’t watch a good game, now we know we have to make you laugh. So we made a conscious effort to be able to do what we do and add a lot of humor and sometimes people like it, sometimes they don’t, but I’ve been there 12 years.
We got 11 in this. So I think we’re doing something right. — I’m — on record.
It’s the best studio show in in all of sports. There’s no doubt about it. Is the authenticity the secret sauce, you think? Yeah, because, uh, one, we, we don’t go to preparation meetings, we just show up and go to work, you know, being that. See, like, I like to use the word G14 classification.
Like, for example, it’s 32. I know what it feels like to be down one game and you got to win this game, and then you gotta go to that place and win game seven. I know that and you know I know that because you see me win it 3 times in a row, lose it and then go to another team and win it again. You’ve seen Charles go there once, but he was still a great player. You see Kenny beat me when I was a youngster the first year and then go back and win it back to back.
So we kind of know what we’re talking about. So. I think validation G14 classification and the humor is what makes us who we are. So when you think about you and Chuck, this is a fun because you like fun. I know you say that.
You say you wanna knock him out all the time. Chuck was here right now. I punch him in his face and then I let my good friend Officer Hall lock me up because I’m gonna be out in 5 minutes, but I will punch Charles in his face right now in Irvine, Texas, and my main man Hall gonna put the cuffs on me.
He’s gonna be nice. I ain’t gonna resist Mr.
Hall. You’re gonna lock me up and I’m gonna get out out of my own recognizance with, I’ll be out in 5 minutes. Charles. — You can’t fool — me. I know the relationship side.
No, he chose, so I, I, I never had a big brother, but I am a big brother, and I was talking to my younger brother. He’s like, Charles, do you like you do me, and I had to think I was like, Damn, it is so.
You know, I’ve, I’ve always respected him as a player. We had a fight one game, not a real fight, but on the way back I’m gonna get him. I’m, I’m a, I promise you, you see my eyes water.
I’m, I’m gonna get them, but. My uncle, who’s my mom’s sister, her phones ring, and I hear two ladies on the phone, and they’re laughing and digging and he was like, Y’all need to stop that. I was like, Who is this? She was like, this is Mama Barkley. So you know I’m a mama’s boy.
So now that I’m gonna kill him as soon as Mama Barkley says stop. Delete the system, right? And then my mom would go, you don’t need to stop. So she said she’s gonna be in the hallway. Tell me if he’s not, y’all shake hands and get it over with.
So I ain’t never disrespect my mom. I go out there, he’s laughing. I’m laughing. I shake his hand. It’s over with.
A few months later I see his mom and my mom playing spades. Now you know how black people play spades. They was, they was cutting it. So then I’m talking to them, how do y’all know each other? We’ve been best friends for 15 years.
So the fact that our moms are best friends for 150 years, it’s like we’re brothers by technicality. So all the stuff that we go through, we, we, we go through our stuff, but what we realize is, man, you can say what you want. I can say what I want as long as we don’t disrespect each other, and we have heated conversations like.
My problem with him is in championship situation. How do you know?
That, that’s all it’s a fair point, yeah, so you know he’d be like, oh yeah, so but uh we’re, we’re, we’re, we’re very close and besides that, he’s a wonderful human being. Yes, no doubt if there was no one in the gym, no cameras, one on one today, you and Chuck, how many would you beat him by? 30. I had a sneaking suspicion you might say that it’s, it’s the two low signal. You might not be able to see that on camera.
Alright, let’s talk maps before I let you go, Shaq. um, Cooper Flag, of course, all eyes on him, gonna be the number one overall pick coming here to Dallas.
What’s your best advice for the young man coming into this situation? Just take your time. You know, good thing about NBA and our culture and Texas culture, they don’t give you room to breathe.
First year we wanna see what you do. Now if you show us you can do some, that 2nd year, we’re gonna be expecting some.
After that 2nd year, no more excuses. We’re gonna need you to. We don’t need you to step it up, but he’s he’s he comes from a great family background.
He’s a fine player. The Mavs have always been an excellent first class organization. They’re gonna treat him well. They’re gonna teach them the things you need to know. I look forward to watching them play.
If Cooper asked you, what’s the one mistake that a young NBA star cannot make, what would you tell him? You have to listen to the important people. First of all, listen to your parents, to the GM, listen to the trainer, and listen to the coach. And then whoever you pick as your friend on the team or vet, listen to him. You start going off doing your own thing because you made it and you got your money now things can go like they’re not supposed to go.
So if you just listen, I, I, I think my greatest attribute as a rookie was always listened.
Kyrie’s coming off the ACL. Let’s say he’s back around February. You think the Mavs will have enough time to put those pieces together with Anthony Davis with the Cooper flag and with Kyrie coming back to make a run. It always looks good on paper, but.
A lot of things have to happen. So you say he’s coming back in February, so they gotta play well from October to February to have a shot. So, but I’ve always liked the Mavericks team. I, I would love to see them healthy playing at full strength. So if you look at it on paper, Cooper, Kyrie, AD, and all the other guys they got, definitely gonna be in the playoffs.
No shortage of stars in the NBA right now, but who’s the one guy that you like? Watch that you think can dominate close to what you used to, I was hoping you’d have one person.
I was afraid you’d say nobody because I don’t like, I don’t like throwing words around. For example, bloggers don’t have the same authenticity as you, even though they think they do. So you can’t throw that word dominant around me.
You can dominate one game or one week. Uh, I dominated year 1, year 2, year 3, championship 1234, man, it, it starts tailing off, but only because of age. Father Tom was the only thing that beat me, so I hate when these people like, Oh, he’s the most dominant. No, he’s not. He was dominating that game.
So I don’t like when people throw words around. I know we live in a different time of era, but you, you, I know you went to school for what you do, and then you got people that don’t go to school and they got more followers than you. I know that upsets you because it upsets me. So, but I like, I’m, I’m, I’m a military guy. I’m all about pecking order, you know.
Yeah, no doubt right, you’re one of the greatest to ever do it, but you’ve also seemingly mastered life after basketball.
How’d you avoid so many of the pitfalls that have gotten some of your contemporaries and other former athletes? My father and mother did an excellent job of teaching me horror stories, preach horror stories. My father was a drill sergeant, so you know anything about military, they preached perfection. I had to learn later in life that perfection is in the eye of the beholder.
So if you go a game where you’re 9 out of 10, you may think it’s a great game, but no, no, no, you should have been 10 out of 10. So do what you can make time to get 10 out of 10. So every time, uh, after your superstar made a crucial mistake, I would get in trouble for it. So now when I say get in trouble, get to the point to where it’s something that I can learn upon the day that that that made me who I am. Lynn bias.
So my father comes in and my father, very sharp gig line was always sharp boots is always shy. He came in the house one day. His clothes were damn off and he was crying, and he says to me, If you ever, if I ever catch you doing coke, I will kill you. And I’m 14 at the time we’re like, Dad, we drink Pepsi, and he, not that. Oh, excuse me, you not that you don’t talking about so I always knew to stay away from drugs.
Always to stay away from alcohol, but those horror stories always, always haunted me and then.
I had to create things that will always motivate me. I remember one time my mother was driving around looking at a small house because we never lived in a house. So now that I’m able to provide for my family and buy my mother a house, I can’t make mistakes to where my mother will lose her house. So you know, I always try to make decisions.
It’s not about life after basketball or continue to be rich, it’s about you bought your mama a house. You gotta pay for it. She’s not paying taxes and she’s not doing all that. You gotta pay for it. So whatever you gotta do work wise, whatever you gotta do saving wise, whatever you have to do investing wise to take care of your mother, that’s what you should do.
And I and I always tell athletes, think about something higher than yourself. So for me it’s my mother. My children and not being on that list, that list is 67% of all professional athletes, 0 to 5 years have nothing with that. 0, never want to be on that list. So I’m over here.
So you know, I don’t preach I’m the smartest guy in the world. I gotta protect my mother’s house. Shaq, you’ve created this business empire. What is the best financial advice that you can give, you know, to some of these players who want to try and get close to duplicating what you’ve done. OK.
Yeah. Hire somebody that’s smarter than you. I have geniuses. That’s Amanda, ladies and gentlemen. Amanda, say hi.
I have geniuses working for me. Sure, I always tell people when things are difficult, you break it down to to the simplest form.
I’ve always wanted to be in this business, OK, big man, set up manufacturing. Set up liquor, set up to where you gotta get it approved. The taste that like you, I don’t have time to do that.
So what do I do? I get with a company that’s already doing it. We do a JV and we grow together. So when something like again when things are difficult, you break it down to the simplest form to where it can. Help and benefit you.
So, you know, my, my, my financial advisors always, always know what you’re doing and always have somebody smarter than you. Like be bugs. I know I’m on the bus, but come here. Yeah, come here, both of you. Didn’t prepare for this, but let’s go.
Dallas.
Dallas. This is beat and this is. Look at that. Look at that camera to Texas too.
Austin, Texas. That’s what we call it in. Thanks so much for the time. Great stuff. I appreciate you.
Thanks..
