Shaquille O’Neal stands in Times Square. He’s promoting NordVPN antivirus software with a basketball stunt. Volunteers shoot. Shaq swats their attempts. Easy work for a man who dominated NBA paint for nearly two decades. Then a Gizmodo reporter asks about the videos. Those clips of humanoid robots dunking and draining threes.

“The robots I’ve seen, they can definitely [dunk],” O’Neal told Gizmodo. “I saw one that was shooting three pointers. I would play one.”

Simple words. Yet they capture a moment where celebrity bravado meets the outer edge of robotics progress. Shaq, at 7-foot-1 and with a career built on power and presence, thinks he could take on a machine. The robots aren’t ready. Not by a long shot.

The footage that caught his eye comes from recent competitions and lab demos. Toyota’s CUE7 humanoid sinks free throws. Its motion stays tightly scripted. Repeatable. Predictable. At Beijing’s World Humanoid Robot Games this year, one machine covered 100 meters in 9.39 seconds. Faster than Usain Bolt’s record, Gadget Review reported today. Impressive on a track. Less so when asked to read a pick-and-roll or absorb contact in the post.

But don’t dismiss the advance outright. Engineers push boundaries daily. Companies pour billions into bipedal platforms that walk, run, and manipulate objects. Boston Dynamics Spot, the four-legged robot that once escorted Shaq at an NBA All-Star event, navigates complex spaces. It climbs stairs. It maps rooms. It even plays fetch after recent upgrades. Shaq seemed amused by his mechanical companion back in 2025. The crowd loved the spectacle.

And Shaq knows spectacle. He has embraced AI across his post-playing career. Last year he launched the Shaqbot with Carvana. The digital assistant uses his voice and personality to help customers browse cars. “As far as engagement, I like realistic engagement — but I can’t be everywhere at once,” O’Neal said during that campaign rollout, per Sports Business Journal. “When I tested it out the other day, I was super, super impressed.”

That project took roughly a month to build on Carvana’s existing AI foundation. It reflects how readily available tools now let brands clone celebrity voices and mannerisms. Shaq approved the responses. He saw it as an extension of his brand. Not a replacement. Yet the leap from chatbot to physical robot opponent spans orders of magnitude in complexity.

Consider the physical demands of basketball. A game requires instant reactions to unpredictable human movement. Balance after absorbing a screen. Grip on a ball while contested. Endurance across quarters. Current humanoid robots struggle with any of these outside laboratory conditions. They operate best in controlled environments where lighting stays consistent and obstacles remain fixed.

One wrong step on a polished court could send a multimillion-dollar machine crashing. Joints wear quickly under repeated jumping. Battery life limits playtime. And the AI brains behind them still lag in real-time decision-making against adaptive opponents. Shaq’s size and strength would pose additional problems. A 300-plus pound frame colliding with most prototypes today would likely end the contest quickly. And not in the robot’s favor.

Progress accelerates though. Chinese teams at the humanoid games showcased speed. Toyota focuses on precision shooting. In May, Shaq brought actual robots onto the set of Inside the NBA. He surprised Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith. Barkley danced in imitation. The segment went viral. Shaq called one his “personal robot from my house.” The moment blended comedy with genuine curiosity about the technology entering daily life.

His investments tell a similar story. Shaq backed Edsoma, an AI learning tool for children. He appeared in AI-generated hologram projects and even created an AI music video celebrating the Knicks’ hypothetical championship run. The man stays ahead of trends. He participates in them. When he says he’d play a robot, it’s not idle talk. It’s an invitation for the industry to close the gap.

Yet experts caution against overhyping near-term matchups. Robotics researchers emphasize that demonstrations often hide the scaffolding required to make them work. Pre-programmed routines look fluid until something changes. A defender stepping out of script. A ball with unexpected spin. The real test comes in open environments. Unscripted. Chaotic. Like a pickup game at a gym. Or an NBA arena.

So. Shaq versus robot. The idea entertains. It also highlights how far the field must travel before such a contest becomes competitive. Current machines excel at narrow tasks. Free throws under ideal conditions. Sprints on flat surfaces. They don’t yet combine athleticism, perception, and strategy at human levels.

That doesn’t mean the future stays distant. Funding flows. Talent concentrates in a handful of labs and companies. Each competition yields measurable gains. Better actuators. Smarter control systems. Improved energy efficiency. One day a humanoid might post up Shaq. Block his shot. Maybe even talk trash in a synthesized voice.

Until then, the Big Diesel holds the edge. His challenge stands as both dare and benchmark. The robots have work to do. Plenty of it. Shaq waits. Probably with a smile. Ready to see if they catch up.

Recent coverage shows the conversation continues. Gadget Review analyzed the practical limits just hours after the Gizmodo interview dropped. The piece underscores a key point. Videos impress. Real-world application demands more. Much more.