Shaquille O'Neal flies to Nantucket the week he apologizes to Charles Barkley

Shaquille O'Neal flew his Bombardier Challenger 605 (N3250N) from Flagstaff, Arizona, to Nantucket, Massachusetts, late Thursday night, a 4-hour-21-minute jump across the country. The aircraft, which O’Neal bases out of Atlanta, touched down at Nantucket Memorial Airport just before 10 p.m. local time.

O’Neal lands on the island in the same week he publicly conceded a long-running argument with Charles Barkley. After the New York Knicks clinched the NBA title in Game 5 of the Finals on Saturday, O’Neal told Barkley live on air, “I owe you an apology,” per a Newsweek report. For two years, Barkley had called Jalen Brunson the best free-agent signing in NBA history; O’Neal now agrees. O’Neal spent the Finals shuttling between Dallas, Las Vegas, and Driggs, Idaho, on Inside the NBA duty before this trip to Nantucket coinciding with the post-series media cycle.

The island appearance fits a quieter pattern: O’Neal’s recent flights have taken him to Santa Barbara, Boston, and a Minnesota municipal airport. Nantucket, a common summer retreat for high-profile Atlantans, offers the Hall-of-Famer a rare off-season stretch away from the studio lights and the GLP-1 conversations he has recently opened up about in GQ.