Shaquille O'Neal, Stephen A. Smith & other ESPN hosts team up to cover NBA In-Season Tournament Semifinals on Dec. 7

Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson of the "Inside the NBA" crew are fan favorites due to their blend of entertaining comedy and expert analysis. As such, it only makes sense that they are around to cover some of the league's most important games.

Fans of the group who want to hear more of their banter and see more of their hilarious antics can look forward to the upcoming semifinals of the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament on Dec. 7. This is because O'Neal and the rest of the "Inside the NBA" hosts will be covering the event.

Aside from the four of them, ESPN analysts Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon will also be covering the event as TNT and ESPN will have a blended coverage of the In-Season Tournament's semifinal stage.

The first-ever In-Season tournament may be confusing to some. However, it has provided a breath of fresh air to the NBA's regular season.

Due to the rewards that will be given to the tournament's winners, all 30 NBA teams have been incentivized to play more competitively in the early part of the season. Additionally, winning the In-Season Tournament will give a team some bragging rights, adding more fuel to the competitive fire.

As such, it's only right that an event this big is covered by larger-than-life personalities like the "Inside the NBA" group of Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley and ESPN analysts Michael Wilbon and Stephen A. Smith.

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Shaquille O'Neal's "Inside the NBA" co-hosts react hilariously to him being named one of the sexiest bald men

Shaquille O'Neal surprised some fans when his name showed up on a list of the sexiest bald men by GQ alongside fellow NBA Legend Michael Jordan and actors like Dwayne Johnson, Shemar Moore, Vin Diesel, Terry Crews, Jason Statham and Samuel L. Jackson.

Shaq's "Inside the NBA" co-hosts took the time to congratulate him, but as usual with them, it quickly turned into comedy.

Kenny Smith pointed out that the list was by GQ South Africa and not by America. He then hilariously asked Shaq how much he paid to get on this list.

Then in usual fashion, Charles Barkley appeared confused as he joked about how he was one of the sexiest men in America and "not South America" when he perhaps meant South Africa as a reference to the list Shaq was on.

Ernie Johnson then congratulated Shaquille O'Neal for being the ninth-sexiest bald man on the list, after Shaq came up with a new nickname, "Shaqie Number Nine."