NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal to perform as DJ Diesel at Cal Expo in Sacramento
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal once terrorized the Sacramento Kings as a Los Angeles Lakers center. Now he’s set to wreak havoc in the capital on the spin tables as a DJ.
The 7-foot-1 larger-than-life personality netter known as Shaq will perform Friday in Sacramento as DJ Diesel, his bass-driven alter ego who blends techno, EDM and rave music with hip-hop flair.
O’Neal headlines “Shaq’s Bass All Stars,” an electronic dance concert at Heart Health Park, located at 1600 Exposition Blvd. inside Cal Expo. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the show starts at 6:30. The show, which is separate from the State Fair that kicks off Friday, and features Rated R, Celo and other hip-hop and electronica acts.
“Our mission is to just make you rock out,” O’Neal said in a 2023 interview with Yahoo about his beats. “Want you to jam out, want you to have fun. I’m not about promoting myself ... because when I deejay (it) gives me the same adrenaline rush as a playoff championship game. That’s why I do it.”
No stranger to Sactown
O’Neal is familiar to Kings fans from his storied rivalry with the franchise during the early 2000s, punctuated by the controversial Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals.
He famously mocked the team by calling them the “Sacramento Queens” and once recorded a diss song in the style of the sitcom “Cheers.” Flash forward a few years, and the iconic big man became a minority owner of the Kings — an interest he held from 2013 to 2022.
He now volunteers as general manager for the Sacramento State men’s basketball team, where his son, Shaqir, plays under new head coach Mike Bibby, a former King and longtime friend who faced O’Neal during the Kings-Lakers rivalry.
‘This is what I want to do’
O’Neal said he became interested in dubstep after attending a Skrillex show in Miami, where he found inspiration in the energy and crowd movement.
“I was like ‘this is what I want to do,’” he told Yahoo. “I like to make a hard face like you just want to push somebody out the way or bump shoulders with somebody. … I’ve never seen anything like this before, jumping up and down. I thought, ‘this feels like a championship parade.’”
The event is open for adults 18 and older. General admission tickets range from $58 to $108, according to Ticketmaster.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 10:38 AM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story and several photo captions incorrectly stated the show would take place Saturday. It is scheduled for Friday.