"Basketball Wives" Is Crazier Than "Real Housewives Of Atlanta"

April 12. 2010

Shaunie O'Neal

After having its name changed from "NBA Wives" to "Basketball Wives" VH-1's latest reality show debuted yesterday, starring Shaunie O'Neal, soon to be ex-wife of basketball player, Shaq O'Neal.

She brought along Eric Williams' wife Jennifer, Matt Barnes fiancée Gloria Govan (her sister, Gilbert Arenas' fiancée Laura, had an affair with Shaq), Michael Olowokandi's girlfriend Suzie Ketcham, Antoine Walker's former girlfriend Evelyn Lozada, Rasual Butler's ex-girlfriend Erikka Mozam and Dwight Howard's former girlfriend and mother of his son Royce Reed, who is the most scandalous of the bunch.

The women featured on the show are pretty and well-spoken, but the show turned into caustic catfights and crying. Royce Reed also began vulgarly dancing throughout the show like a stripper, lowering the tone of the program.

She is a pretty woman (er, I don't mean like the movie of the same name) and should carry herself better than that, especially for her son's sake. It is clear the other women on the show do not like her. She was even labeled "groupie-ish."

A preview of coming episodes reveal clips of more bickering and a fight featuring one of the stars of the show, throwing a drink in another's face, who in turn smashes a glass in her face for doing so.

This show could have been far more useful and revealing regarding the tribulations that come with being attached to some, not all, athletes, who engage in sexual affairs, leaving their women devastated.

Instead, "Basketball Wives" is like "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" - full of fighting and gossip - but with a Miami locale. It will help ratings to a certain degree, but dignity flew out the window.