Shaq battles Charles Barkley over wild conspiracy theory

Shaquille O’Neal garnered some pushback from Charles Barkley after sharing a wild conspiracy theory on TNT’s Inside the NBA this week.

While most NBA fans are eager for athletes to stop sharing conspiracy theories in the wake of Kyrie Irving’s latest controversy, O’Neal decided now was the time to unleash some thoughts on the moon.

Forget gas math…@SHAQ has a new theory pic.twitter.com/o2ziV7MPkP

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 16, 2022

“I have a new theory,” O’Neal told Barkley and the rest of his Inside the NBA colleagues. “There’s more than one moon.”

The announcement from O’Neal was met with a chorus of groans by Barkley, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith.

“Let me tell you my theory,” Shaq insisted. “The other day I was riding, passed Auburn as a matter of fact, and the moon was on the left and I keep going straight, didn’t making any turns, and about 20 minutes later, the moon was behind me.”

After hearing O’Neal out, Barkley jumped in with plans of debunking the theory, “That’s cause it was moving, fool!”

“Nope,” O’Neal replied defiantly. “There’s more than one moon. And then, another 45 seconds, the moon was on my right. There’s more than one moon.”

O’Neal’s multi-moon theory for planet Earth is not the first conspiracy he’s shared. The Basketball Hall-of-Famer known as The Big Aristotle also aligned with Kyrie Irving on the flat-earth theory in 2017. And after later declaring he was only “joking,” O’Neal revealed himself as a flat-earther once again when he flew to Australia without going upside down earlier this year. The Big Aristotle also questioned whether the Earth is spinning, noting that he lives on a lake and the water doesn’t spin.

Very intuitive. But NASA still confirms there is just one moon orbiting Earth, and they appear to have done more research on the topic than O’Neal’s 20-minute drive passed Auburn.

[Inside the NBA]