The death of Ayesha Harrison-Jex is a big loss to his brother Shaquille O’Neal who is grieving the loss 40-year-old who succumbed to cancer last Thursday.
Ayesha died after three years she was first diagnosed of cancer.
The tributes and words of support and encouragement have poured in for the retired NBA star. His Inside the NBA colleagues offered condolences on Thursday’s episode and explained to viewers why O’Neal wasn’t in his co-hosting seat, PEOPLE reports.
We have to tell you why you’re not seeing Shaquille O’Neal here on the set tonight,” co-host Ernie Johnson began. “Basically the ‘Big Fella,’ who I’ve described as ‘the biggest kid in the world,’ his heart is breaking tonight. He said his world revolves around his brother and two sisters. And he lost one of his sisters this morning,” he explained.
“I’m trying to put into words the way Shaquille has reacted to this, and he’s struggling,” Johnson said. “And when he struggles, we struggle with him. Because he’s one of our brothers and we feel for him tonight.”
Johnson and O’Neal, along with Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, round out the TNT’s Inside the NBA roundtable.
"Big Fella, you hang in there."
Ernie, Kenny, Charles & Commissioner Silver's thoughts are with the O’Neal family pic.twitter.com/5yUtdhjWkZ
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 24, 2019
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