President Erdoğan on the same court as the legendary figure.

President Erdoğan on the same court as the legendary figure.

20.01.2026 11:51

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal. The meeting between the two generated significant buzz in sports and social media.

In the meeting held at the Basketball Development Center opened in recent months, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Shaquille O'Neal played basketball together. After taking shots at each other, they gifted each other the basketballs they signed.

SHARED ON SOCIAL MEDIA

President Erdoğan shared images from the meeting on his social media account. The post included basketball and Turkish flag emojis, while no written statement was made regarding the meeting.

President Erdoğan played basketball with the NBA legend

IT BECAME A TREND

The photo of Shaquille O'Neal, who is 2 meters 15 centimeters tall, and President Erdoğan quickly became a trend on social media.

President Erdoğan played basketball with the NBA legend

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL'S CAREER

Shaquille O'Neal, who played 16 seasons in the NBA from 1992 to 2011, competed with the teams Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Boston Celtics. O'Neal won three consecutive NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000, 2001, and 2002, and one NBA championship with the Miami Heat in 2006.

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