Shaq Shouts Out San Francisco Shock After Huge OWL Win

When esports and traditional sports crossover, it’s always big news. But when the guy crossing over is a former 4-time NBA Champion, 3-time Finals MVP, NBA MVP, 8-time NBA First-Team player, and 15-time All-Star, you definitely listen. After the San Francisco Shock defeated the Vancouver Titans in the Overwatch League Stage 2 Finals, they received a shout-out from their most famous part-owner Shaquille O'Neal.

Congrats to my Golden Boys the @SFShock for a dominant end-to-end run and Stage Championship! #shocktheworld #stagechampionship

— SHAQ (@SHAQ) May 13, 2019

O’Neal is an investor in NRG Esports, the group that owns the Shock. Shaq is joined by Andy Miller, Mark Mastrov (part-owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings) and Chance “Sodapoppin” Morris. Obviously, when your investment does well, there’s cause to celebrate, evidenced by this exchange between O’Neal and Miller:

What a run partner! #nrgfam #shocktheworld

— Andy Miller (@amiller) May 13, 2019

Shaq has seemingly been a part of video game culture for his entire career. Other than his regular appearances in basketball video games like the NBA Jam, NBA Live, and NBA 2K series, O’Neal has made appearances in Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, and UFC Undisputed 2010. Of course, Shaq’s first (and most notorious) venture into non-basketball video games was the cult classic Shaq Fu, a fighting game starring O’Neal as a valiant protagonist battling against otherworldly foes, released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis way back in 1994. The game is still played in competitive tournaments at major fighting game events, like CEO. Here’s last year’s Shaq Fu grand finals between Joey Bag’O Donuts and Shadowsect:

While we don’t think there’s going to be a Shaq Fu pro tour anytime soon, Shaq’s passion and involvement in video games and esports is still an awesome spectacle to behold. Maybe one day we’ll see a Shaq skin in Overwatch? He’d certainly fit right in. For more on the Overwatch League, check out the rosters for the Overwatch All-Star Game, which takes place on May 15th and 16th at Blizzard’s Burbank, California headquarters.

(Feature image courtesy Overwatch League Twitter)