Mind the Game - Listen Now: New Heights - Shaq on NBA Finals, Joining ESPN, Kobe Stories, Being the Black Kelce & A Big Slick Recap

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

Shaquille O'Neal, 4x NBA champion, Hall of Famer, and one of the most dominant big men the game has ever seen, sits down with Jason and Travis Kelce on New Heights. Shaq brings the same energy he brought to every arena he ever walked into: big stories, zero filter, and a whole lot of laughs. If you love deep sports conversations with larger-than-life personalities, this one's for you. Subscribe to New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce wherever you get your podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey Mind the Game fans, Steve here. Today, we're dropping something special in your feed, and I think you're really going to enjoy this one. It's called New Heights, and it's hosted by two guys you might have heard of, Jason and Travis Kelsey. Look, I know what you're thinking. What does a football podcast have to do with me? But here's the thing.

These two brothers bring the same passion for their sport that LeBron and I try to bring to basketball. They get into the real stuff, the preparation, the mindset, and what it actually takes to compete and perform at the highest level week in and week out. And the guests they've got lined up this offseason, trust me, you're not going to want to miss them. Even when they're not talking football, they're just a blast to listen to. The dynamic is real. It's funny and something you can't manufacture.

So do yourself a favor. Go check out New Heights. I think you're going to love it. Here's Jason and Travis to tell you a little bit more. What's up, Mind the Game fans? I'm Travis Kelsey, and this is my big brother, Jason Kelsey. Hey. We're giving you a little taste of what we get into every week on New Heights.

That's right. it's me, my brother, no filter, unless it's during an ad, then they will filter it. Break down everything that happens in the NFL and honestly, whatever else is on our minds. From terrible dating advice to football, to relationships, which I guess is dating advice, to... Food. Yes. Don't can't forget food. Travel.

Yeah. To just like celebrity interviews, really. Yeah, to coming of age stories. Nice. And when we say no filter, we mean that we have incredible edit team that keeps us from getting canceled. And here's a clip so you can hear for yourself. Our guest today is 7 foot one center from Louisiana State University. That's right.

He's a 15-time NBA All-Star, four-time NBA champion, three-time finals MVP. God damn. A league MVP, Olympic gold medalist, and an NBA Hall of Favor. You know him. That's the big shamrock, the big Aristotle, the Superman, Shackness, the days all we got him. Okay. Shack. A.k.a. the black Kelty, brother.

Let's go. 92 percenters, can you dig it? Please welcome Shaquille O'Neill. You know, it's crazy. I was thinking if we would have grown up together, we would have fucking been great. Us three at the same high school, I would have been fucking.

It would have been so fun. Been fucking mayhem. We would have had a blast, man. You would have, you would have blended in perfectly in the heights, baby. Yes, I would. Man, alive. Appreciate you joining. Well, how are we doing?

I can't complain. Thanks for having me. You know, I love both of you guys. I want to say I'm proud of both of you guys. And I appreciate our friendship. I know we don't see each other alive. But when we do see each other's all love and respect. I always, even though I am, who I am, I'm still a fan of the game and the fan of sports

and the way you two gave you all, much appreciate it. You know what, baby, well. Thank you so much. Yeah, we took notes by how you played and how you've done it in life. Hell yeah. I'm still taking notes by how you've done. You've got to get me on the, on the DJ booth, man. You've got to teach me your ways, dog.

Yeah. I got you. I got you. Whatever you got. And you know, it's crazy. You are opening up for your girlfriend. bro, you'll be a fucking star. 10 minutes,

10 minutes, piping up the crowd. Oh, my God. Come on, you know, I'm a height man. You know, I'm a height man.

You can get her rocking in there. And the Swifties bouncing off the walls before 10 gets out there. Speaking of Swifties, your brother did something nobody else in the world can do. He walked me right over.

I got to shake her hand. Oh, nice. And, you know, she was with ice spice. I was more on ice spice than I was on your woman. But thank you, brother. I appreciate.

I was like, hey, Taylor, oh my God, ice spice. Hey, boo, boo, boy. How are you doing? That was awesome. That was awesome. That was the Super Bowl I like to remember. No, man, I appreciate you saying that, man. You mentioned this already.

You were on inside the NFL, and you said if you played in the NFL, if you played in the NFL, you'd be known as a black house. We're going to play this link for anybody that hasn't seen that clip yet. We thought this is one of the funniest thing we've ever seen. Brandon, can we play the clip?

Let's go intern. This is what happens when you have interns that work for you. He's on your ass. Intern. What NBA players do you think were transitioned well into our sport? Me. Time in. Wait, wait.

No, no, that's right. You're too big and too much of a target to play tight in, though. I am not. You know what they would call me? They would call me the black healthy. That was my man, Ocho Sinko, giving it back to you. A lot of people don't know this, that, you know, when I was coming up, football was my sport. Okay.

So you played? Yeah, I was football all the way. And I was really good. I used to tell people, too tall Jones was my father. Okay. And I really played. And I like, I played a nose guard on defense and I played tight in on offense. That's what I'm saying, baby.

I knew you were tight in, man. And I used to bring the pain. Yeah. Who, who. I can only imagine. All the kids. school they used to talk trash. And you know, this was like in the days where you could like rough people up and try to hurt them. Oh yeah. It was that guy. It was encouraged. And then one day

my junior year, I scored and a little freaking dude hit me on the side of my knee and I was out for about eight weeks. So no, football is my thing. And then my father came in the house one day and smacked me in the back of the head with the paper. It's like, you need to fucking stop playing football and focus on basketball. And when I opened up the paper, John Conkack had just signed 15 for three. Oh, wow. Yes. So I'm like, first of all, who was John Conkak?

I'm like, I got some tickets. We're going to go watch them. I was living in San Antonio at the time. So the Hawks were playing the Spurs. And no disrespect to John Conkack. He was the NBA. He was a pro. He was a good player.

And a lot of money, it sounds like. Yeah, he made a lot of money. But I was doing the things in high school like he was doing in the pros. And I was like, shit. If this dude was making 15. for three. My dream was to make $8 million for 10 years. That's my whole dream coming out. I wanted to make

$8 million for 10 years and I had it all set up. I wanted a Mercedes-Benz. I wanted a Jimmy Bronco. That was my whole thing. So I started playing basketball, but I used my football pain experience when I was playing basketball. Like when I turned with the elbows up, I'm trying to knock

your teeth out your mouth. Oh, yeah. No doubt. People always go back to the Hacker Shack and they're like, oh, he got filed a lot. I never felt it. because of my football prowess and my football experience. But I think if I would have stuck with football, I probably would have definitely made tight-in. Like, I hate when people look at me and be, oh, you'll be a good offensive.

I'm like, I'm not a lineman. I'm a showman. The 90s for sure. You running up and down the floor? I can see it right now. People that say that don't remember Orlando shack, right? They don't remember him running the court like that. That's what they don't remember.

Duh. We had a play in high school on the goal line. Allie U-Upon-3. Yeah, I go five, five yards in and turn towards a corner and you just fucking throw it up and I was fucking go get in and snag it. I used to watch her. And I'm about to go to Coach Reed right the fuck now. Yeah, I used to watch Kellynne, well, Kellynnewell and all those guys.

Yeah, so, yeah, so, you know, football was my sport. That's awesome. I believe it. Every time they asked me to do these rosters, build an NFL roster, who you pick it. I'm picking Shaq every day. end of the week because you did play basketball like your NFL player. Like anybody that watched you play in the post is like, yeah, that dude

could rush the passenger, he could catch the ball, like he can do it all. I don't know, just put him out on the field. I ain't worried about it one a minute. I'm going to send you a picture of me winning my first punt pass and kick contests. Yes. For up Mama from New Jersey. Man, please send that. Please send that.

Did you have the whole outfit on? No, I just had like, I just had like sweat pants and the t-shirt and everything. Because the One, our, Coach Reed has one out there where he's got the full Rams get up on. Oh, the helmet, the shoulder pads. Oh, man, it's hilarious. I saw that. Was that him when he was like 12?

That was really him. Yes. That's him? Bigger than every kid out there. That wasn't him. Yes. He tells the story. I saw that clip the other day.

I was like, who the fuck is that? He was dominating them little kids. Too funny. I have to ask you this right off the jump, big guy. Was it not a little bit of? allowed for you to go straight to the league? Or did you just want that college experience or that LSU experience? It was, but my father was so big on education.

I got you. He was really big on education. I got you. He did a great job of teaching me horror stories. Always tell this story. And, you know, some people may take it the wrong way, but I really appreciate what he did. The day Lynn Bias passed away from Coke, my father came in and touched me up very nice. and the message was

if I ever catch you doing drugs I will fucking kill you wow so he like I didn't know who Limbos was and he came in the house fucking crying uniformed to him

and he just fucking grabbed me if I ever catch you with coke I would fucking kill you and in my mind I was like dad we drink Pepsi he was like no seriously because I'm like

I'm like I think I'm like I'm like 13 at the time but he felt like that was his son he felt like a guy that had it all, you know, it was going to be the number one pick, get drafted by the Boston Celtics, and he made a terrible mistake, and he passed away. So I never did that.

I always stayed away from that. But every time an athlete got in trouble, I was sort of getting trouble for it. So every time I, you know, when I became a professional athlete, all the stuff that was in my mind, especially athletes that five years after they play, they don't have any money. I was really, really conscious about, you know, business and saving money and, you know, doing the right thing. Oh, yeah.

Hell yeah. I'm telling you, Diesel, I'm still taking notes by how you're doing stuff. You've done it's such a professional way, professional way, your professionalism on the court, off the court, in the business world, man. I've been taking notes for a long time, man. You've been doing it the right way. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

And I'm taking notes from you guys too. You guys are doing your thing. Do you ever wonder what it would have been like playing in, like, today's NBA with all of the social media and the podcast? And it's like, you were a larger. in life NBA figure, not just as a player, but like, major motion pictures coming out. What do you mean?

Kazam? Are you fucking kidding? I was about to ask him why he stopped being in the acting world. Hey, second favorite genie. I'll get Robin Williams or not. Robin Williams gets one. But Shaq is getting my second favorite genie ever, yes. So I always tell athletes, it's okay to be professional jealousy of somebody else.

Like, I'm jealous of you guys. Guys, podcasts, fucking killing. He's making money, but instead of using that to create envy, I use that to create motivation. So to answer your question, if I was playing out, I'd be a trillionaire. I would. I believe it. I believe it. Because when I use social media, I said to myself, like, when I first got on social media, I was showing off.

And then my mother got on social media, she was so disappointed. She's like, baby, you don't have to show off your gold chains and your car. So I had to figure out a way to use social media. So I use 60% to make you laugh, 30% to inspire you. Like if I see something inspirational or cool, I'll forward it. And then the last 10% is, hey, this is Shaq for Beatbox. This is Shaq for ICA. So I do it like that.

I probably would have had the same method growing up. I would have made so much money. I'm writing this shit down. I'm brilliant, man. Business mind. And then you got a lot of, you got a lot of bump. is making a lot of money. And you guys know this.

Like, if it's a tight end making a certain amount, he's making more than you and he did that, you're going to use that as motivation. Oh, this motherfucker had 12 touchdowns, and he's making a hundred million. You're going to go out and get 19 to touchdowns and then just tell your age, hey, they're getting a new deal.

So I would definitely love to play in this era. I would still bring the football pain, and I would be different. You know, I'll be watching these podcasts. Oh, Shack couldn't play in this era. you couldn't guard the three. They're out of their minds. It would be simple.

As soon as Joker shoots a three, I'm going to run right past them, and I'm going to pulse up in the lane for 100 seconds. So if you hit the three, good, but I know by the time we get the ball and throw it down, I'm definitely going to hit the two. I'll hit more twos than you hit three. So I would probably only shoot a three like if we got up, but I would not go away from my strength. My strength is power and height, so I'm going to take the high percentage shots.

because if I'm averaging 30, it's an easy job for my agent. If I'm standing out there shooting three is an average in 15, that's a tough job. But if I'm averaging 30, you know, scoring a lot of points in my age can say, hey, Rudy Goberra got 250. Me and Shaq, we want 700. There we go. We want 700. If Rudy's getting 250, shit, that's what I'm saying.

10 times more dominant, so the numbers got to make sense. Do you think the modern NBA is missing that aggression in that way? Because it wasn't just you that used to play that. game like the post it used to be a much more physical game it's all of sports nowadays you know for long you can't hit anybody baseball you can't even fucking block the plate at home like but that was one of the reasons one of the reasons i wanted menace like after the cabs got eliminated one of the reasons i was rooting for the temper wolves is because anthony edwards looked like he was mad the entire game like at least this guy showing some aggression i like the way this guy's playing like exactly

you're right i wish in this thing of ours it was ran by us i hear you i like that like for example When you guys retire, the NFL just brings everybody in, but like, you, you, you and you, you got all these people that are changing the game. Like, our NBA All-Star format is terrible. It's tough, man. It's terrible. It used to be the most exciting weekend of all sports, man. I don't know.

I don't know what's in charge, but it's terrible. So, that's your question, the league is getting soft, the game is getting soft, and it's going to take a couple of people to bring it back. Like, I don't, I hate big guys shooting three. Victor, when we're on, he's a great player, but I would love to just see him dominate so much that people start complained and they change rules like when I do. Like, I could shoot, but I'm not going to shoot a three.

Why don't I shoot a three when I could put your little ass in the basket and dunk on you? Put these balls in your face. Oh, yes! I'm getting so freaking fired up right now. Yes. That was amazing. That was a bit of empty.

Before we get to your documentary, because I definitely want to pump that up, man. I got to ask you now that we're talking about balls in your face. What exact, who do you think gave you like the hardest time playing? Like who defended you the best? What teams did that? The little guys always defended me the best, the Charles Oakley's. He was finest, baby. Anthony Mason's.

Yeah, the four guys I had problem with. I didn't really have any problems with any big guys. the big guy that taught me the most valuable lesson is Akeem Elijah one. Because the year we made it to the finals, we beat Michael Jordan, the greatest player ever.

So I already thought the job was done. And then we had 10 days off. And living in Orlando, you're going to restaurants, it's standing ovations, and you know, you're getting extra deals and it's to parades.

And, you know, me and one of my other teammates were jumping on private planes. We're going to Miami and party. And, you know, because I like to, get ready three days before, but you got 10 days off. I couldn't be like this for 10 days. All right. So I'm like, you know what? Let me take a couple days off. We definitely going to win.

I'm playing against the king. We won one. We won one. He's the same size. We definitely going to win. But he taught me never to celebrate too early. So when we played in the finals, I didn't see that a king. And they had just won a year before. So they were going for back to back. And he just fucking taught me a lesson. So I always said to myself, if I get back to the finals again, I'm going to dominate so fucking much that it won't be a question of who's going to win. So, you know, he kind of got his way in our finals. Me and Dave Robson, probably even. Me and Tim Duncan will probably even, me and Patrick Ewan, even, me and Alonzo, even.

Like, we always try to, you know, cancel each other out. I couldn't stop them. They couldn't stop me. But the guys like Charles Oakley and fucking Carl Malone, the little guys that can get into your... Get leverage underneath here, yeah. Get leverage. Yeah, those are the ones that gave me problems. Rick Mahorn had this move because he was a big body.

He put his body on you. And as soon as I fucking go back or he would move and I would fucking fall on. Pull the chair on you? That move right there. That's crazy. Well, we hope you enjoyed that clip. If you want to have some more fun and hang out with me and my brother, go check out new heights wherever you get your podcast.

This show is growing this offseason. And with brand new segments and great guests coming up, you don't want to miss what we got coming. So subscribe, join the 92%ers, and thank you so much to Steve and LeBron. Feels very weird calling them by their first names only for letting us crash the Mind the Game Feed.