Shaquille O’Neal takes matters into own hands & seemingly shuts down Matt Barnes over his viral claim that Shaq sought dirt on Shannon Sharpe

On Thursday, Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal humorously poked fun at Matt Barnes on Instagram after an audio clip surfaced in which Barnes name-dropped Shaq. In the clip, the former Mavericks player accused O'Neal of digging up dirt on Shannon Sharpe, who is currently facing a civil lawsuit. In response to these claims, O'Neal created a hilarious skit on Instagram.

In the video, Shaq is seen mocking Barnes' claims that he is looking for information on Sharpe, as he captioned the post with a humorous message:

"Dam I got caught again I need that info I’m paying to dollars #yallsodumb#yallbelieveanything#shaqiswhite," he wrote jokingly.

The skit showed Shaq throwing shade at Matt Barnes as he was seen getting on a call where he demanded information about the Inside the NBA crew. Explaining he would pay "top dollars" for any information on the trio, the center mockingly said:

"Hey, this is Shaq. I am paying top dollars for information. You know where Charles Barkley is at?" he said. "You know where Kenny the Jet Smith at?" he questioned further.

This hysterical exchange between Shaq and his alleged whistleblower dismissed any negative notion of him digging dirt on Shannon Sharpe, as insinuated by Matt Barnes' leaked audio. He also clowned the 2017 NBA champion for his baseless claims as he took the matter into his own hands by posting the skit.

The audio in question was leaked in March and featured Barnes claiming that O'Neal was looking to dig up dirt on his media rival, Shannon Sharpe. He also claimed that Big Diesel was willing to pay a large sum to anyone willing to uncover negative information on the ESPN host.

Jason Whitlock gives his take on the leaked audio, claiming the tension between Shaquille O'Neal and Shannon Sharpe dates to the 1990s

Sports columnist Jason Whitlock gave his views on the controversy surrounding Shaquille O'Neal and Shannon Sharpe during his show on Thursday. The former ESPN reporter was seen playing Matt Barnes' audio where he claims O'Neal is looking for dirt on Sharpe:

"Shaq said he’s paying top dollars for any information on our boy [Shannon Sharpe]," he is heard saying. "And he said, ‘Please, please, please, keep it quiet.’ He said that Shannon did some sh*t bad to him a while back and he’s been off on him. So, that’s why he’s doing this," Barnes continues to say in the audio. (0:34 onwards)

After listening to the audio, Whitlock gave his take on the clip as he expressed that the differences between O'Neal and Sharpe stemmed from the 1990s:

"What I will say about Matt Barnes and this leaked information, I can remember going back 1998-1997, let me make sure my timeframe is accurate on that, but I was tight with Dereck Thomas," he said. "And I remember him telling me a bout a beef between Shaquille O'Neal and Shannon Sharpe," he continued. (4:07 onwards)

While not revealing many details about the conflict, it is evident that there is more to the situation between Shaq and Sharpe than initially apparent.