{"id":603883,"date":"2026-04-13T10:17:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/603883\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:17:16","slug":"shaq-offers-viral-pacers-fan-couple-engagement-ring-during-inside-the-nba-segment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/603883\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaq offers viral Pacers fan couple engagement ring during \u2018Inside the NBA\u2019 segment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"Shaquille O'Neal laughs on camera.\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2190011265-e1776058396667.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"responsive\" class=\"image-next-root\" style=\"border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;right:0;box-sizing:border-box;padding:0;border:none;margin:auto;display:block;width:0;height:0;min-width:100%;max-width:100%;min-height:100%;max-height:100%;object-fit:cover\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Article_ImageCaptionCredit__wtmKL article-image-caption-credit Typography_body1__O2cez inherit Typography_base__T6j8f\">Shaquille O&#8217;Neal offered to pay for the engagement ring for a couple of Pacers fans who recently went viral. Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>April 13, 2026Updated 1:36 am EDT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInside the NBA\u201d ended its final regular-season broadcast with an interview of the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AlexGoldenNBA\/status\/2042407968528880070?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Indiana Pacers\u2019 fan couple<\/a> that went viral last week.<\/p>\n<p>In case you missed it \u2014 and how could you have at this point \u2014 the Pacers\u2019 TV crew caught a woman named Grace mouthing a \u201cWhat the f\u2014 are you talking about\u201d at the end of a conversation with her boyfriend, Michael. The conversation turned out to be them bickering about the value of a liberal arts education in today\u2019s job market. Seriously.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve made the media rounds since the clip surfaced, but nothing compares to going on TV with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O\u2019Neal.<\/p>\n<p>To wit: upon hearing that Michael and Grace are not yet, in fact, married, Shaq insisted that he would pay for the engagement ring if Michael proposed on the spot. Pretty enticing, to be honest! But Michael tried to pivot and say he\u2019d do it if the TNT crew committed to attending the wedding, which they wouldn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n<p>The interview ended with Michael, while complimenting Grace, attempting a joke about San Antonio women in front of Barkley. That went right over Grace\u2019s head.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, it was a fitting way to end Inside\u2019s first regular season on ESPN\u2019s platforms.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u2018Inside the NBA\u2019 had the viral Pacers couple join the show tonight.<\/p>\n<p>Shaq was particularly honest and also offered to buy them an engagement ring. \ud83c\udfc0\ud83d\udcfa\ud83e\udd23 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">#NBA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Yoa4FeRhxD\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Yoa4FeRhxD<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KQoYba26hm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/KQoYba26hm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/awfulannouncing\/status\/2043540715037503871?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">April 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img 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alt=\"Connections: Sports Edition Logo\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"PuzzleEntryPoint_PuzzlesIcon__Po_hP\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAASAAAAEgCAMAAAAjXV6yAAAA0lBMVEUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/v7+\/f39\/Pz8+\/v7+gw1qWt1WWt1SgoKCfn5+Mq0+Mqk+QkJCCn0qCn0mCnkqCnkl4kkSAgIBwcHBkejlkejhabjNabjJgYGBQYi1QYS1QUFBGVidGVShGVSc8SiI8SSJAQEAyPR0yPRwwMDAoMRceJRIeJREeJBEgICAUGQwUGQsUGAsQEBAKDQYKDAYKDAVRd1CXAAAAFXRSTlP\/ABAgMEBQYG9wgI+Qn6CvsL\/P3+959xIgAAAEn0lEQVR42u3c4VYaVxSG4e8wDlRlsHBGTUYb0qaJialoWtE6tRBR7v+WupbaOHuGwYRl4oLzvlcAz9r7\/NsjN6eotZn0fKrVzXe3NpqRm5NcTY048QoknzS\/FSjeTBVUaRJ\/A1DcVYD1WjOB4HnIN78CKOoq4JLoMaCfUgWdb80FaiQKvs1GPVDUw0fyUR1Q5NGxQhZoLcXmLr9WAGJ+ZpRGD0D41G2ZBWrgY+o1SkCbqun6cvhDymU6OVokmcbDx\/o7v1ZNiQVqaWb5x9fZD+pQppfbiyTTMPuK3n7INbP1e6D6B+j6eC8zrQ6QrX88nvlQF4ASVTM8KwhkiVSt+wDUVKV\/3mTZigNZorEqxV+AvMr9uZcFAGT6a\/YIaeYLfZxlwQFlxyoX3wP1qj4hAlWFundAcWW\/sjCBqlsW3wIlso2zUIH2L2Vr3wKlsvWDBcreypY2nFyz8gCFC5QNKjum8oaN+yED7d\/IlDg5Xx6gcIGqI+SdItn6YQPtyxapKVOehQ2U5TK1tCHTh9CBPsrU1pZMv4cO1JcpUVfFbrLQgbIbFevJq1gO0KWKednOATpVsVS2IUAWSAABBBBAAAEEEEAAAQQQQAABBBBAAAEEEEAAAQQQQAABBBBAAAEEEEAAAQRQMEBX+XN1JdPF2SI9xZ+ZchNPREREREREy9X156VOpslokSaa1zBb6mQ62l6kI4AAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAPquQOfvljqZTl4u0hm370REREREREQrVX64SLmKTV4t0pFMg8PnKpft6b+TP9pepFcyvcueq1OAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAD6rkDTz4s0lRVapEn5hzxXU27fiYiIiIiIaLmanC3SSKZ8qRvL9vTfyb\/KlrpTgAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAggggAACCCCAAAIIIIAAAigYoBQg27lsXsUuAMpLPD0VmwB0o2JddWTaDR3oN5l+VlumX0MHOpRpQy2ZzkIHymVqKpJtJ2ygvmyRnJfpIGyggUzeyXVkmuyEDNS\/kilxcrFsByEDDWRrOrlGKtuLcIH6sqXOybm2bBc7wQJdyZbcAsUq9T5UoE8qFd8Cua5KHYQJNFCpnrsDilURChCo6qPWPVB1hPQ+OKC9Tyrn3f9AsSqNdsMCevOvKjW\/ALmuqh3shgO0N1C1xD0ARamqjQzRigFZnqmq+agA5NY1s7NfXqw60Os\/cs2s5YpArlN\/B31y9FgjFbsZLk+XU9XUdhao0eMmvphvlIBc5FExD1AZyEUpLsanDOTWmKH70jVngNiyyvwUgRAq1YtcHZBrtPHpNJwFsrW8gi5ddza5UlFHAdeNXAWoUtMHyxM7VwNka\/XgMUDV4k6qoErbhscA1dTseAWST+KGq0luTlFzY6u7ykyp7yXtVjTP4D\/6awC5wZMmhQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"Connections: Sports Edition Logo\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Apr 13, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n<p class=\"PuzzleEntryPoint_PuzzlesMobileSubtitle__BhT5j\">Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n<p class=\"PuzzleEntryPoint_PuzzlesDesktopSubtitle__cgpmH\">Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n<p class=\"PuzzleEntryPoint_PuzzlesButtonText__PsrSe\">Play today&#8217;s puzzle<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shaquille O&#8217;Neal offered to pay for the engagement ring for a couple of Pacers fans who recently went&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,7221,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-603883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}