When Steve Nash accused Shaquille O'Neal of stealing his idea for a reality show: "Everyone in America has similar ideas"
"Shaq vs." was a reality show featuring Shaquille O'Neal facing off against the top athletes in their respective fields. The big man went up against the likes of Shane Mosley, Michael Phelps, and Albert Pujols, among others, to prove he was the best athlete ever. The idea was great, but there was some controversy about it, as Steve Nash claimed that O'Neal stole the idea from him.
The creation of the idea
A report by AZ Central revealed that when O'Neal was traded to the Suns in February 2008, Steve shared his idea for a reality show where he would challenge the top athletes in their respective sports. Months passed without the two Hall of Famers discussing the topic again.
But when the new 2008-09 season kicked off, Shaq told the entire Suns team of his reality show where he would face off against the best athletes in their sport - exactly like Nash's concept.
"You mean the idea you stole from me?" one Suns representative said he heard Nash say, per Yahoo Sports.
Season 1 ran for five episodes and featured top athletes like Ben Roethlisberger, Albert Pujols, Misty May-Treano, Kerri Walsh, and Oscar De La Hoya. In a TV appearance to promote the season finale featuring Michael Phelps, Shaq was asked about the controversial seed of the idea. According to the Big Fella, Nash's idea involved training with the athletes, not competing against them.
"Everyone in America has similar ideas," O'Neal said, per the Associated Press. "His idea was slightly different."
Big Diesel added that the brainchild took root during an Olympic-watching party at his place in 2008. While watching Phelps claim one of his eight gold medals, someone asked him: "Hey, you think you can make it down before he makes it down and up?" O'Neal said, "Of course," and then told his friend that he’d have it set up.
Legendary point-guard went on to become executive producer of the show. O'Neal described their working relationship as Nash being the Canadian Aaron Spelling and him as the black Spielberg.
Hollywood idea
Given the fame of the figures involved, several Hollywood observers shared their thoughts on the matter. According to LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke, it's not about the idea or who thought about it first; it's all about execution.
"In Hollywood, it's not about the idea; it's about who can get the idea made. Everybody seems to have the same idea out here, but the bottom line is, can you get it made?"
Though Big Aristotle was at the tail end of his career then, he was already an established pop-culture icon. He did this through his on-court dominance and through his Hollywood films, numerous TV commercials, and businesses.
According to Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw, it was better that Shaq was the show's star, given his capital in Hollywood. However, he did feel that the guard was the creator of the idea.
"If Steve Nash went to the trouble to hire an entertainment lawyer, now he's listed as an executive producer, I tend to think that Shaq probably did take Nash's idea and run with it. That's not the worst thing in the world; the show would sell better with Shaq than it would with Nash. But it sounds like Nash had the idea first."
Things could've been messy, but thankfully, they weren't. Two NBA legeneds were able to agree that both of them play key roles in the idea and development of the show. Things can be settled peacefully, after all.
