Angel Reese, the promising WNBA rookie for the Chicago Sky, found herself on the lighter side of sports news when she lost a bet to NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.
It was an ill-advised endeavor. Not because of the nature of the bet. No, she wagered that O’Neal wouldn’t make a free throw. Seems like solid odds.
But the wager was for a staggering $100,000. Supposedly.
O’Neal effortlessly sank the shot, much to the amusement of onlookers and Reese herself. In fact, the shot was clean. Better than many we’ve ever seen him take.
“I guess I owe him 100K 😭,” Reese captioned the video on Instagram.
Angel Reese Bets Shaquille O’Neal On One Free Throw
Betting on one shot with anybody is a little crazy. Unless it was like a full-court heave. From the charity stripe though?
Angel Reese might have thought it was a safe bet. Shaquille O’Neal famously struggled throughout his NBA career from the free throw line.
He shot below 53% for his career. His worst effort was in the 2006-2007 season with the Miami Heat, when he shot just 42.2%.
He was so bad at shooting free throws that opposing teams developed the hack-a-Shaq routine late in games to try and rally and/or win. The concept being that the team could exchange a 2-point bucket for at best, a 1-point foul shot and slowly get back into the game.
Can you imagine if this man could manage to shoot just a decent 65-70%? How many points he would have scored?
On a side note, O’Neal should have gone double or nothing by challenging Reese to make a layup. She would have gone 1 for 4 with 3 offensive rebounds.
RELATED: Angel Reese Complains That the Media Created a ‘Narrative’ That She’s a Villain
That’s Shaq’s Girl
Shaquille O’Neal and Angel Reese have developed quite a professional rapport. She’s comfortable enough to bet well over her WNBA rookie salary, so there’s that.
O’Neal often refers to Reese as “my girl” due in part to their both being LSU alumni.
The NBA Hall of Famer has also expressed admiration for Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark.
“(Clark) does everything right,” Shaq said. “I never spoke about her (before) because Angel (Reese) is my girl but I can truthfully say—Caitlin Clark is for real.”
Clark was just named WNBA Rookie of the Year. She received 66 out of the 67 votes for the honor.
Angel Reese got the other one.
There is little chance O’Neal will make her pay $100,000 for the free throw.
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