Shaq Had Steph Curry Feeling So Awkward With What Seemed to Be a Subtle FTX Joke

The NBA on TNT crew has long been known for their humorous hijinks. But Tuesday night’s interview with Warriors star Stephen Curry might have set the bar even higher for funny moments reserved only for live TV.

As the crew was finishing up an interview to honor Curry being the recipient of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award, Shaquille O’Neal took a moment to compliment Curry for the honor and call him his favorite player in the league. He concluded his statement with what seemed to be a thinly veiled reference to the pair’s current ongoing legal battle regarding the cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX.

“Thanks for getting me in trouble,” O’Neal said. “Don’t say nothing, be quiet.”

The quip drew a hearty laugh from Curry, who took O’Neal’s advice to heart and declined to address the remark. The pair are among a group of high-profile athletes who were named in the class-action lawsuit filed against FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

The suit alleges that the company and Bankman-Fried misled consumers, and the athletes mentioned—including Tom Brady, Naomi Osaka, Trevor Lawrence and Shohei Ohtani—”either controlled, promoted, assisted in, and actively participated” in the alleged scheme where they “aggressively marketed” FTX. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last year, with Bankman-Fried resigning as CEO.

Whatever comes of the lawsuit, it appears that there are no hard feelings between O’Neal and Curry, who are clearly more than willing to laugh at their current predicament.