Shaquille O’Neal gave TMZ almost nothing on the Lakers, but he definitely gave them a viral moment. When a reporter tried to ask the NBA legend about the current state of the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaq veered away from injuries, playoff talk, and JJ Redick’s squad almost instantly. Instead, he focused on the reporter herself, and his reaction was impossible to miss.
Shaq Turns a Lakers Question Into a Flirty Viral Moment
With playoff chatter heating up and the Lakers once again under a microscope, Shaq would normally be one of the most interesting people to ask about the team. As a three-time champion in purple and gold, he knows exactly what pressure around that franchise looks like.
But when a TMZ reporter approached him about injuries involving Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, Shaq had other priorities.
“You’re the best-looking TMZ girl I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said. “Hey, TMZ, keep this girl. Hey, TMZ, this is the best-looking TMZ girl ever. Oh my God, she’s hot!”
The exchange quickly took on a life of its own online, mostly because the reporter kept trying to drag the conversation back to basketball while Shaq kept drifting in the other direction. At one point, he even grabbed the camera and turned it toward her so viewers could see who had caught his attention.
The whole encounter took place in New York and the woman in question is Seleah Simone. She has almost 15,000 followers on Instagram.
This was classic Shaq in one sense. Big personality, zero filter, total willingness to hijack the moment.
He Had Very Little to Say About the Lakers
For anyone hoping for real Lakers insight, the payoff was slim. The reporter stayed on task and kept pushing for something about the team’s current condition, but Shaq did not seem interested in breaking down anything in detail.
He only briefly said that the Lakers’ star would “be back” and added, “they’re fine.” That was about it. No deep playoff take. No injury analysis. No real panic or praise. Just a short reassurance buried inside a flirt-heavy encounter that quickly became the real story.
The moment reportedly happened in New York, and the reporter was identified as Seleah Simone, who already had a growing social media presence before the clip started circulating.
Shaq’s Dating Life Keeps Drawing Curiosity Too
The viral moment also fed into a conversation people already like having about Shaq’s personal life. Despite being linked to various women over the years, he has only been married once, to his ex-wife Shaunie Nelson. They divorced in 2011 after nine years of marriage.
Since then, Shaq’s dating life has continued to attract interest, especially because he often mixes charm, confidence, and humor in a way that keeps people watching. Even Shaunie once joked that he should hurry up and find someone so he could stop randomly calling and FaceTiming her.
If this latest clip proved anything, it is that Shaq can still hijack a routine sports question and turn it into a completely different kind of headline.
