Victor Wembanyama appeared in his first TNT game on Tuesday night when the San Antonio Spurs traveled to Phoenix to take on the Suns. While the obvious headline of the game is Wembanyama playing his first game against a future Hall of Fame inductee in Kevin Durant, the Inside the NBA crew took some time to yell at one another about Wembanyama and another member of the Suns.
Shaq compared Wemby to Bol Bol and Chuck lost it ???? pic.twitter.com/VIQfj8i61r
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 1, 2023
“He’s never seen a guy like Wembanyama? Yes you have, his name is Bol Bol … Wembanyama is just way more consistent than Bol Bol,” Shaquille O’Neal argued before basically saying that their frames and skill-sets are similar, all while the rest of the set was pretty stunned that he made that comparison.
“First of all, that’s, no,” Charles Barkley said before Shaq repeated his point about consistency. Barkley then lost his mind.
“He’s only played three games!” Barkley exclaimed. “Are you comparing Wembanyama to Bol Bol?”
“Bol Bol is the first 7’4 guy that we’ve seen come out with the handle, shoot the three, yes,” Shaq said. “Y’all acting like you ain’t never seen a guy like that before. Bol Bol is the first guy, that’s what I’m saying … Bol Bol just don’t play hard, that’s all.”
Kenny Smith popped in and attempted to deescalate things by making a joke about Shaq’s mug, but Barkley couldn’t let this one go, as he asked the exact same question of Shaq and got the exact same answer. They then tossed around a few other names before Chuck offered up a few critiques of Wembanyama’s game … but not without taking one more swipe at Shaq.
“Shaq had a great point,” Barkley said. “I mean, the other point about Bol Bol, I don’t agree with that at all.”
Bol is in his first season as a member of the Suns, and has appeared in one game off the bench so far this season.