Haslem, Wright Put Kibosh on Shaunie Show

Jermain O'Neal's wife, Masha, is still slated to appear. Maybe.

Looks like we won't be seeing the partners of two current Heat players eating tubs of vaseline or crying into a camera -- Udonis Haslem and Dorell Wright told media that their old ladies won't be appearing on VH1's mediumly-anticipated reality muckfest "Basketball Wives" after all.

"We changed our minds,'' Haslem told The Miami Herald about his partner Faith Rain's participation in the show, which is produced by and starring Shaquille O'Neal's soon-to-be-ex-wife, Shaunie.

"It had nothing to do with me anyway. It was about her. With her being my partner, I support everything she does, just like she supports me. But it was just my standpoint that I don't like reality TV. I don't Twitter. I don't Facebook. I don't MySpace. I don't get involved in none of that stuff. I expressed that, and she decided not to do it.''

Really? The show sounds totally harmless. It's not at all like the rough draft of a bad breakup: go on tv, air out your relationship drama, fight off groupies, hang out with the estranged wife of one of your boyfriend's ex-teammates who just got busted sending dirty texts to another baller's fiancée, and let everyone in America in on how you worry your man is cheating, too.

It's practically a weekend away without the kids! And not all something that will taint a player's image forever.

What's odd here is that VH1's press release naming Rain as one of the show's stars was sent out just last week and reported everywhere. The show is slated to air its 8-episode arc starting in March, which means filming will begin soon if it hasn't already. And what's even odder still is that the release didn't name Dorell Wright's girlfriend Mia as a participant, yet he's announced she won't be on it, either.

"There was no way we were going to be doing something like that," he said. "No way."

And now we're just sad: if the show turns out to be even a fraction of the trainwreck the announcement has become, it'll be amazing. But at least we still have one reason to tune in: Jermaine O'Neal's wife Masha is still on.

Or is she? If there's one thing this hard lesson has taught us, it's that VH1 press releases -- like NBA players on the road -- aren't to be trusted.

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