Gary Payton reveals Shaquille O’Neal used to throw a bucket of urine at rookies
The NBA has a long history of rookie hazing. It's been happening for quite some time now, and usually, these stories are revealed to the public after several years. The recent revelation is from Gary Payton, who said that Shaquille O'Neal used to pour urine on rookies. Yes, actual urine — disgusting, right?
Poor rookies
Payton, who played with O'Neal during his stints with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004 and Miami Heat in 2006, said that O'Neal used to collect a bucket full of urine in the team's bathroom for a week and then pour it on rookies whenever they go to the comfort room's stall.
"Shaq is a jokester, so if one of the rookies was in a stall, he would take a bucket and use the bathroom in it for about a week, then all of a sudden he'd pour it on them," said Payton in his recent appearance at Vlad TV podcast.
Payton, who won a championship with O'Neal in 2006, didn't divulge who the victims were. But the one-time champion said that he and these rookies made sure to take his revenge.
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Payton's revenge
Payton mentioned that the team went along with O'Neal's nasty hazing and eventually got the four-time champion back. According to Payton, he used to steal O'Neal's shorts so he wouldn't have anything to wear when he'd go outside.
"We started being jokers. So I said, I got to get him. I got his shorts once which he had to wear underneath his thing. But we messed up his pants so he had no draws and he had to find them. So, he had to wear a towel around him and Shaq didn't care. He'd go outside with the towel on and was doing all kinds of everything. He'd get in the truck, ride around it and even throw his towel around and he'd be freeballing. I used to keep all his shorts and a pair of draws and all that stuff," Payton said.
Payton indeed came up with the best revenge, but at least O'Neal still went with the prank and had fun with it. As ridiculous as these two pranks were, at least at the end of the day, the team won the championship in a tough six-game series.
Not only was that 2006 ring Payton's first and last championship, but it was also O'Neal's first one without Kobe Bryant.