The joke was for the crowd at a Lakers "All-Access" fundraiser, but the joke apparently was on the social media sphere. Or was it?
The joke may be on LSU if an NCAA investigation follows.
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NBA Hall of Famer and former Laker Shaquille O'Neal said his comments about getting paid at LSU at the fundraiser were blown all out of proportion, The Advocate of Baton Rouge reported.
"You guys know I'm the life of the party, so I had to pick it up," O'Neal told The Advocate. "So every question they asked me, I had to give them a funny response. I was on the stage and a guy asked, 'How was your time at LSU,' and I said, 'Yes, they paid me very well.' The crowd went crazy. ... It was a joke."
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That drew laughter from the 525 people in attendance, prompting O'Neal to add, "Statute of limitations is up, I can talk about it. Snitches get stiches, you know."
He was more serious in his responses to The Advocate about his time with the Tigers from 1989-92. O'Neal said someone "with 82 followers" tweeted out the comment to gain national notoriety and it went from there," The Advocate reported.
"Everyone knows LSU is the most honorable university ... ever," he said. "Everyone also knows I don't sell my soul for anything. Everybody knows the relationship me and Dale Brown have, and the love we share for each other," O'Neal added. "Something like that would never happen."
Not everybody bought O'Neal's second-day story.
"Regardless of whether or not he was joking -- and it remains unclear if that was the case, regardless of his retort -- it'll be interesting to see what the NCAA's response is," CBS Sports reported. "O'Neal is right that the typical statute of limitations is up. In the most recently published NCAA Manual and rulebook, the bylaw on statute of limitations (19.5.11) states that "allegations included in a notice of allegations shall be limited to possible violations occurring not earlier than four years before the date the notice of inquiry is provided to the institution or the date the institution notifies (or, if earlier, should have notified) the enforcement staff of its inquiries into the matter."
The other problem the Shaq issue has raised is the fact that current Tigers coach Johnny Jones, who was an assistant on Brown's staff when O'Neal played at LSU, refused comment to the Advocate. Jones currently coaches Ben Simmons, who will likely be the top pick in the NBA Draft later this year.
The school may ask O'Neal to keep his jokes to himself in the future.
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