Shaquille O'Neal might think Ice Spice is "so dam fine," but he swears he wasn't trying to rizz up the rapper with his Instagram caption after the Super Bowl .... claiming he was just trying to be nice!!
The 52-year-old Hall of Famer explained what happened on his "Big Podcast With Shaq" this week ... saying he ran into IS when he hopped over to Taylor Swift's Allegiant Stadium suite during halftime of the big game.
Shaq shared a pic of his meet-up with Swift, Spice and others ... and he raised a ton of eyebrows when his caption praised the "Think U The S*** (Fart)" MC's beauty.
But Shaq insists he wasn't pulling up from half-court ... he was just giving her her flowers.
"The reason why I put out the post with Ice Spice, not 'cause I was trying to flirt, but I didn't really blow her off, but I just wanted to show her some respect too," Shaq said.
"That's why I put the post up because I was in there and it was all about, 'Oh, Shaq met Taylor' and [Ice Spice] was in the picture."
It doesn't really explain why he went with that specific caption, but Shaq claimed he doesn't shoot his shot in that manner -- he actually considers his flirting style "unorthodox."
"I don't flirt like that," Shaq said. "Just 'cause I say 'hi' don't mean I'm tryna slide in the DMs."
Shaq did admit he finds Ice Spice, 24, attractive ... and said Taylor -- who was there to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, win his 3rd Super Bowl -- was also very nice.
Carry on, folks.