'Shaquille O"Neal once again showed that his sense of humor remains one of his greatest assets. The NBA legend appeared in a video alongside a massively built man who was practically his same height, whom he introduced to the cameras as his supposed twin brother.'

“America, I can no longer keep the secret. I have a twin brother and his name is Jack O"Neal”, Shaq began by saying with absolute seriousness before calling over his companion.

“Come here, Jack. Step closer so they can see that we’re the same size”, he added as both of them stood in front of the camera.

The alleged twin brother of Shaq

The scene was designed to provoke a second look. At 2.16 meters tall, O"Neal does not usually come across many people capable of standing beside him without being dwarfed. His companion, however, was practically his height, which made the joke even more convincing.

“Don’t tell anyone that I have a twin brother,” Shaq continued between laughs before signing off with an “I love you.”

O"Neal himself capped off the bit by saying he had been “fooling” the public all these years, a reference that fits with the particular relationship he maintains with his image and with publicity.

But there was no family revelation behind the video. The so-called "Jack O"Neal" is not Shaquille O"Neal's twin brother. USA Basketball biographical records indicate that Shaq has three siblings: LaTeefah, Ayesha, and Jamal.

Shaq turns his own image into part of the show

The joke also comes at a time when O"Neal is once again talking about one of the most important facets of his career outside basketball: advertising.

In an interview published this week by Fortune, Shaq reviewed how he built his brand from his early years as a professional and recalled some of the business deals that shaped his career, including those made with Icy Hot, The General, Pepsi, and Reebok.

In fact, O"Neal said in that conversation that he still believes he does not have enough television commercials and was open to continuing to work with brands.

That relationship with advertising helps explain the tone of the video. At 54, Shaq no longer needs to be on a court to turn his enormous personality into entertainment. This time, it was enough to stand next to a supposed twin and let the resemblance do the rest.

For a few seconds, “Jack O"Neal” seemed to really exist. Then it became clear that, as so often with Shaq, the story was simply a well-executed joke.