SHAQ AND CHARLES BARKLEY COULDN’T STOP LAUGHING: DESTROYING JAYLEN BROWN OVER HIS HAIRLINE

It was one of those nights on Inside the NBA that reminded everyone why the show is pure gold. Instead of breaking down game stats, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley turned the studio into a comedy club — all because of Jaylen Brown’s fading hairline.

It started innocently enough. Jaylen fired up a Twitch livestream, showing himself getting a haircut. What was supposed to be a lighthearted moment turned into viral chaos. Fans quickly noticed patches on his head that looked like the “paint” had started wearing off. Within hours, the memes exploded across social media.

To make things even funnier, Jaylen FaceTimed LeBron James — the unofficial “hairline survivor” of the NBA. Viewers burst into laughter as Jaylen joked, “Bron, I think my time’s coming, man.” But that was just the beginning.

When Inside the NBA aired that night, the crew had clearly seen the stream. The moment Jaylen’s name appeared on screen, Shaq broke into hysterics while Barkley squinted at the monitor:
— “Wait… who is that? That can’t be Jaylen. That hairline’s been doctored, bro!”

Kenny Smith jumped in: “Nah, they’re calling him Jaylen Beijing now.”
Shaq roared: “Beijing? Like the black dye from China?”

And just like that, Jaylen Beijing Brown became the new viral nickname across Twitter.

Barkley, never one to hold back, leaned forward and asked:
“Why are guys so sensitive about their hairline? I went bald years ago — just shaved it clean. I was fat and bald. Didn’t matter.”

Shaq burst out laughing. “You were definitely fat, though!”
Barkley shot back, “Yeah, but at least I didn’t have to paint my head every morning!”

The studio lost it.

They went on to debate the “art” of hair restoration in barbershops. Barkley swore he’d never seen anyone spray paint their scalp, while Shaq argued every Black barbershop had that magic black bottle waiting in the corner.

Then they turned philosophical — if you could call it that. Shaq joked about white guys doing the “360 comb-over,” wrapping one hair strand around their head like a survivor’s flag. “They’ll fight that battle till the end,” he said.

The crowd was in tears.

And just when it couldn’t get funnier, Jaylen went live again from the barbershop, calling LeBron one more time. The phone went straight to voicemail:
“Bron, it’s lil bro. Call me back. They caught me slipping. It’s Code Red, man.”

Twitter lost it. Someone even edited a clip of Jaylen calling LeBron while an airplane took off — destination: Turkey, the global capital for hair transplants.

Shaq leaned back and said, “He might as well book that flight to Istanbul right now.”
Barkley added, “Better hurry before the tariffs go up again!”

Ernie tried to regain control: “Alright guys, back to Celtics vs. Wolves…”
But Barkley delivered the knockout line:
“If Jaylen’s worried about his hairline, just show him his paycheck. That’ll grow it right back!”

The set exploded with laughter.

By midnight, TikTok and Twitter were flooded with clips of the segment. The hashtag #JaylenBeijingBrown was trending globally. Fans edited fake ads showing Jaylen endorsing hair dye products, others compared his head to a map of fading paint.

But beneath the laughter was something genuine — Jaylen’s willingness to laugh at himself. In a league obsessed with image and ego, his humility stood out. Seeing him joke about it, call LeBron for “emergency advice,” and take it all in stride made fans love him even more.

As Barkley said in his closing words:
“A real man ain’t the one who hides his bald spot — it’s the one who shaves it and walks out smiling.”

And with that, Inside the NBA ended not just as a sports show, but as one of the funniest nights in basketball television history.