Here's Why NBA Legend Shaquille O'Neal Says He Won't Appear on 'Dancing with the Stars'

The former Los Angeles Lakers star seems to be a fan of the ABC hit series, but he cited a very valid reason to refuse to appear on it as other famous athletes have.

48-year-old former NBA player and sports analyst Shaquille O’Neal has no problem in appearing on social media while dancing along with his family, and he certainly has some good moods in him, but that doesn’t mean he wants to turn it into a competition.

Given the great number of athletes from all disciplines that have graced the stage of the dancing competition series “Dancing With the Stars” over the years, it is not surprising that fans of O’Neal hoped to see him take part in it.

But in a recent conversation with US Weekly, the basketball star made clear that he has no plans to ever compete on the ABC series, which is currently on its 29th season, telling the news outlet:

“I can’t do it, yeah. I wouldn’t do it now. I like being the innovator. If it was season 1, I would do it.”

So if the producers of the ABC hit show had ever dreamed of having the basketball legend as a contester, they now know that they missed that chance a long time ago.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean O’Neal doesn’t enjoy the dance competition series, and he even had something to say about fellow former NBA player Charles Oakley and his pro dancing partner Emma Slater being the first eliminated this season.

“[Charles] looks really good. Now, he was always a guy that stayed in shape and it was really good and his outfit and his hips are still working really good,” O’Neal said.

DANCING WITH HIS SONS

Early in the COVID-19 lockdown, on March 27, 2020, Shaquille and two of his sons, 20-year-old Shareef and 17-year-old Shaqir, spent a Friday night at home taking part in a dancing challenge that rapidly went viral.

Wearing comfortable home clothes, Shaquille and his children performed choreography to the beat of “Lean wit It, Rock wit It” by Dem Franchize Boyz, with Shaquille sharing it on Instagram, where it has collected more than a million likes.

On the post caption, Shaquille challenged several of his fellow NBA stars and friends to take to their own social media to see if they could also make some moves to the song, including Steph Curry, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade.

SHARING STORIES

Apart from dancing along with his children, Shaquille found other ways to bond with them during quarantine as he used the old stories of his fellow NBA legends with them to get life lessons from them.

Shaquille included a few stories about his late friend Kobe Bryant. "I used to tell them stories like, 'Hey, Kobe used to practice this way. Maybe you should try that,'" Shaquille told People in September.