
Shaquille O’Neal has a thing for Rihanna! Or at least he used to.
In a set of newly leaked text messages and e-mails from 2008, the now retired NBA star can be seen trying to get Newsweek reporter Allison Samuels to set him up with either her … or Pop superstar Rihanna.
Shaq and Samuels met when she was covering a Lakers game, and they’ve been friends ever since. In fact, Samuels helped write Shaq’s mom’s autobiography.
It is believed that Shaq was still with his wife Shaunie at the time the messages were sent (they were reconciling following their divorce in 2007).
During their conversation, Samuels tries to set the then basketball star up with several models and actresses, including Sessilee Lopez, Lauren London and Robinne Lee. Shaq also drops a bomb in the text exchanges when he reveals that Lauren London is “d wade’s girl” (referring to his former Miami Heat teammate Dwayne Wade, who is dating Gabrielle Union, and has been for a while now.)