![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Shaq-2-1024x576.jpeg\")
NBA legend Shaquille O\u2019Neal sticks his tongue out during an interview with CityNews in Edmonton on March 11, 2026. (Zach Dafoe, CityNews)<\/p>\nShaquille O\u2019Neal\u2019s well-known love for Edmonton reached new heights this week \u2013 and that\u2019s saying a lot for a man who\u2019s already seven-foot-one.<\/p>\n
The NBA legend-turned-analyst was first spotted in Alberta\u2019s capital Tuesday night at a Sherwood Park restaurant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must inform all the people who saw me out last night that was not me, that was an AI clone,\u201d O\u2019Neal joked to CityNews.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou people in Sherwood, Sherwood Park? Sherwood Forest? That wasn\u2019t really me. You\u2019ve been fooled,\u201d he added, sticking his tongue out.<\/p>\n
NBA legend Shaquille O\u2019Neal sticks his tongue out during an interview with CityNews in Edmonton on March 11, 2026. (Zach Dafoe, CityNews)<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal was in fact in Edmonton because he partnered with The Brick, which was founded in Edmonton, on a new big-and-tall line of furniture. O\u2019Neal took part in the line\u2019s unveiling at the Edmonton Convention Centre on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
The four-time NBA champion says you don\u2019t have to twist his arm to visit Canada \u2013 even in winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone in Canada knows Shaq loves Canada,\u201d he said, breaking out into a quick rendition of O Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been to Toronto, been to Vancouver, I\u2019ve been to Calgary. I love Canada. Winter, spring, summer, fall. If you need me in Canada, Shaq will be there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went out last night by myself. The town was very hospitable. I\u2019ve been coming here for 30 years. And you people are beautiful people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaq\u2019s connection to Edmonton really took off during the Oilers\u2019 2024 Stanley Cup playoff run after the \u201cNHL on TNT\u201d \u2013 the sister program of Shaq\u2019s \u201cNBA on TNT\u201d \u2013 nickname him \u201cShaq Hyman,\u201d a nod to Oilers winger Zach Hyman.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal even twice appeared on that station\u2019s NHL program, putting his hockey skills to the test.<\/p>\n
The nickname got the attention of the Oilers, which gifted O\u2019Neal a Zach Hyman jersey. Shaq later returned the favour by sending Hyman a Los Angeles Lakers jersey.<\/p>\n
The NBA star says he won\u2019t have a chance to connect with Hyman \u2014 who Shaq calls \u201cJack Hyman\u201d \u2014 or the Oilers this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, but a good friend of mine, aka boss lady, I\u2019m not gonna say her name, because she\u2019s very, very famous, she gave me an autographed Jack Hyman jersey. So thank you, Jack. I appreciate you very much sir.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal confirmed he would already be back home when the Oilers next play at Rogers Place on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Shaq said he did not intend to convince his coworker and friend\/rival Charles Barkley to come up to Edmonton to watch an Oilers game.<\/p>\n
\u201cNope. Jack Hyman is mine,\u201d Shaq said.<\/p>\n
The larger-than-life star left CityNews with some parting words on how he stays humble.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up always being the big man hanging around with little guys, I learned to do little guy stuff. So I actually feel normal, even though I\u2019m way bigger than you are, I actually feel normal. Being the big man to me means being nice, respectful, a guy that\u2019s calm and a guy that\u2019s well-respected.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shaquille O\u2019Neal\u2019s well-known love for Edmonton reached new heights this week \u2013 and that\u2019s saying a lot for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-530164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}