Shaquille O'Neal threatened Warriors center JaVale McGee over Twitter after McGee took offense to being included in a parody video

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February 24, 2017 5:44 PM

JaVale McGee had enough of being ridiculed by Shaquille O'Neal, so he disparaged O'Neal over Twitter, setting up a heated exchange.

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Golden State Warriors reserve center JaVale McGee has long been a favorite target of Shaquille O'Neal.

The journeymen center, whose highlight-reel mistakes have often overshadowed his on-court contributions, have made him a mainstay on O'Neal's blooper reel, "Shaqtin' a Fool," for years.

On Thursday, in lieu of O'Neal's typical countdown of bloopers, TNT aired a "Doctor Strange" parody featuring McGee's biggest bloopers throughout his career.

McGee did not take kindly to the video. After the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 123-113 on Thursday, McGee took to Twitter with a colorful and explicit message for O'Neal:

O'Neal decided to respond, threatening to fight McGee:

McGee then called O'Neal out for the threat. According to Yahoo's Dan Devine, McGee was also referring to a past criticism of O'Neal's "Shaqtin' a Fool":

"We remind you that McGee has, on separate occasions, referred to Shaq's signature segment as 'Shaqtin' a Coon' and compared O'Neal to a minstrel, the comedic performers of the 19th century who performed in blackface and lampooned black people as lazy buffoons."

O'Neal pressed on:

But McGee stood his ground:

O'Neal had one more retort:

From there, the barbs concluded.

It's a bit of an ugly result from a segment that's supposed to be funny. McGee, rightfully, has gotten tired of being the butt of the joke, though O'Neal is well within his range to laugh at a player who has frequently found himself on the blooper reels.

It may not be surprising if the NBA steps in here, as it's not a great look for a prominent NBA voice and a player on the NBA's best team to be exchanging threats.

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