Sorry, Shaq, we still see you! Shaquille O’Neal had some fun outside a restaurant in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, August 2, when he attempted to hide from the paparazzi — behind the tiniest tree.
The 7-foot-1 former NBA star, 44, was waiting for the valet to fetch his car after his lunch at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse when he spotted the cameras and ducked behind the sidewalk plant. The tree didn’t even cover one arm of O’Neal’s 344-pound frame.
The Inside the NBA analyst, who was dressed in a simple black polo and khakis, playfully peeked out from between two branches, giving the photographers a hilarious stare-down.
While his towering height doesn’t work to his advantage in paparazzi hide-and-seek, it made him one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He played for the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics throughout his 19-year career before retiring in 2011. Besides his hoops career, he’s also had four rap albums (the first one went platinum) and two reality shows, and he has a doctorate in education, and he’s a cop.
The Hall of Famer is set to appear on an episode of NBC’s Running Wild With Bear Grylls later this month. Grylls shared an Instagram photo of the pair in a forest looking up an extremely steep rock. “@shaq the man! Did so well — stood strong and never gave up! Quote for me was: ‘Bear’s a little guy who never complains!’ (Ps for the record I am 6’0 !! Love to ya champ!),” Grylls captioned the July 9 pic.
