“First of all, my name is Shaq-a-dile Dundee. I am Australian, mate.”
NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal has only been in the country a couple of days, but he's already taken to our lingo.
“I know two words in Australian - 'mate' and ‘jumper'," he says as he points to his Reebok sweater. “Because I know those two words, I’m Australian.”
The four-time NBA champion and three-time Finals MVP is currently in Australia ahead of the sold out ‘Evening with Shaquille O’Neal’ presented by The Hour Group, and the Australian Basketball Player's Association which sold out so quickly that the Thursday, August 25 event has morphed into a pay-per-view event screening on Main Event and Kayo Sports.
ORDER: 'An Evening with Shaquille O'Neal' on Kayo Sports
Despite the success in selling out arenas, the Diesel says any response from the Australian public "would have been great."
“Sold out, ten people, five people. It’s very humbling for a kid from the projects in North New Jersey to be known in Australia," O'Neal told NBA Australia.
This isn't the first time O'Neal has hit Australian shores - he was last here in 1993 - and his familiarity with Australian basketball dates back decades.
O'Neal recalled finding out just how tough a small player from the Sydney Kings called Shane Heal was.
“I played against a couple Australians, my favorite was ‘Little Shane’ Shane Heal," O' Neal said.
Shaq says the 1996 Olympics was the point in which all of the American players found out about Heal.
“That’s when Shane went off ['96 Olympics],” O’Neal said.
“We knew of a couple players on the team but nobody had heard of Shane Heal and he was doing work. That’s when they called me in to ‘touch him up’ ‘cause I’m the ‘touch up man.’ I tried to ball him, he ducked and came down and hit a couple threes and was talking smack and I was like, ‘This kid can play.’"
It should come as no surprise that when asked which Australian player past or present a prime Shaquille O'Neal would have liked to play with, the answer was 'Little Shane.'
“Shane Heal," O'Neal says without hesitation. "Shane Heal, ‘cause he’s tough and he’s a great shooter. He’s tough ‘cause he came in the lane one game and I tried to ball him in his face and he just kept coming back and that’s when I knew this kid had some heart.”
O'Neal is also familiar with the current crop of Australian players in the NBA. Famously he's had a back-and-forth with the Nets' Ben Simmons, but it's another Brooklyn Aussie that has captivated the former Lakers' star.
“I love Patty Mills," Shaq states.
"I don’t know him [personally] but he’s a little like Shane - a little guy, you put him next to an NBA player and look at them like that guy’s [Patty] not supposed to be there. The Spurs won a lot of games because of him. [He’s] a great shooter, a great player. I love Patty Mills.
“I think he’s done a fabulous job [representing Australia]."
Shaq's tour of Australia is a whirlwind.
Sandwiched in between the two sold-out speaking events will also be two DJ'ing gigs - one each in Melbourne and Sydney - under his name of DJ Diesel.
DJ Diesel isn’t O’Neal’s first foray into music, however.
He has famously featured on rap tracks with the Notorious B.I.G and Michael Jackson, and has an RIAA-certified platinum plaque for his 1993 debut album Shaq Diesel. But it's DJ'ing which provides him with a release of the every day stresses of life.
“For real, whenever I’m mad, I hop in the car and ride and think about what I’m gonna do to a person. It usually takes one song to calm me down," he says. "If I don’t have music by the time I get into a confrontation, [whispers] you’re gonna die. I don’t want you to die so I get in the car and I forget about it and we let it go."
Since he's taken so well to the country which already has a Big Pineapple, a Big Merino and a Big Banana statue, could we possibly see a Big Aristotle statue erected soon enough?
Shaq shakes his head.
“The Big Mate.”
And what would that statue look like?
“A Black Kangaroo,” says O’Neal. “All black.”
ORDER: 'An Evening with Shaquille O'Neal' on Kayo Sports
