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Video: Gary Payton Recounts Incident Where Shaquille O’Neal Nearly Choked Out Pat Riley
- Updated: May 18, 2020
When Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal joined the Miami Heat, he didn’t exactly get along with head coach Pat Riley.
O’Neal and Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton shared a story about one of O’Neal and Riley’s fights on “NBA Inside Stuff” Sunday night.
The Zoom call featured some of basketball’s biggest names sharing old stories from their playing days.
“I had a fight with Pat Riley,” O’Neal said. “Gary Payton had to grab me from choking Pat Riley.”
Shaq tells the story of when he and Gary Payton got into a fight with Pat Riley and Gary's response when Riley tried to make him run plays: "F**k that, I'm passing to Shaq."pic.twitter.com/xrFMQRfGux
— Sherwob Holmes (@WorldWideWob) May 18, 2020
Payton may have stopped him from doing it, but he wasn’t too happy with his Hall of Fame coach either.
“You was going to choke him out too, boy,” Payton responded. “You should’ve choked him because I was going to choke him right after that.”
O’Neal’s frustration didn’t hurt his game on the court as he did make three consecutive All-Star Game appearances in Miami.
Payton finished out his career in Miami, starting 53 games over two seasons.
And while Payton and O’Neal’s relationship with Riley may have been rocky at first, they would go on to win a championship under Riley in the 2005-06 season.
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