Advertisement

Shaq was late for the play-in tournament pregame show, and the TNT crew loved it

The postseason play-in tournament officially kicked off on Tuesday night, but Shaquille O’Neal was nowhere to be found.

O’Neal, the longtime “Inside the NBA” analyst, was missing from his seat when Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley kicked off their coverage ahead of the Charlotte Hornets-Indiana Pacers matchup.

The crew, obviously, had to crack plenty of jokes.

“What kind of a dummy misses the first night of the playoffs?” Barkley asked before Smith called O’Neal via FaceTime on the broadcast.

Now, O’Neal wasn’t far.

He tried to sneak into the studio a few moments later and take his seat. The Hall of Famer, however, isn’t very good at sneaking in anywhere.

“I apologize, I read my schedule wrong,” he said. “I’m sorry. Thought it said 6:30. I apologize to you Hall of Famers.”

Hey, he made it before the game tipped. That’s close enough, right?

More from Yahoo Sports: