Shaquille O'Neal said he'd stick his hand in a hornet nest if Charlotte beats the Atlanta Hawks

The Charlotte Hornets are making their second straight trip to the NBA play-in tournament, and not many are expecting it to go much better than last season’s embarrassing 144-117 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Shaquille O’Neal is so sure that he’s even willing to risk an awfully painful experience.

The No. 10 seed Hornets face the No. 9 seed Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday for a chance to play the Cleveland Cavaliers to get the East’s No. 8 seed. While the Hawks haven’t been able to play at last season’s level, they closed out the season on a 7-2 stretch with Trae Young playing some of his best basketball.

That was enough to have Shaq saying this on Tuesday night:

Shaq said that he would stick his hand in an actual hornet nest if the Hornets eliminate the Hawks. Now, I’m not sure if Shaq would actually go through with it because multiple hornet stings could turn life threatening for some people. But maybe there’s room for a compromise here.

If the Hornets win, TNT could bring in YouTuber Coyote Peterson and walk Shaq through a single hornet sting. After all, Peterson did willingly allow a “Murder Hornet” to sting him once. He’s an expert in that sort of thing.

Of course, a Hawks win would save Shaq from that scenario entirely. So, he should just hope for that.