One of the more bizarre stories of the last two decades in the NBA has been the ongoing apparent beef between former Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic star centers Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal. In many ways, Howard’s career was essentially a diet version of that of O’Neal’s, as both led their upstart Magic squads to the Finals before bolting for the Lakers–and that’s where things diverged a bit.
Still, despite the immense advantage in both accolades and team success that O’Neal boasts over Howard, the Atlanta product still seems to live rent free in the Big Diesel’s head, as O’Neal can regularly be seen still taking frequent jabs at Howard on various platforms, including TNT’s Inside the NBA, where he is a cohost.
Recently, O’Neal had former NBA guard Jamal Crawford on his The Big Podcast and attempted to share his side of the story, including claiming that he has attempted to be a mentor of sorts to Howard on several occasions.
“All I said about young fella was that he needed to average 28 and 15,” said Howard, via NBA Central on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “And I don’t know how he gets the, ‘he doesn’t like me.’ That has nothing to do with it. Like, I’m telling you how to get to Superman status. Like, this is all you’ve got to do. Every time… So, I kind of had to leave him alone, you know, kind of had to stay off of him.”
A bizarre saga
Over the years, Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal have clashed on a variety of topics, including, as O’Neal referenced, who truly earned the “Superman” nickname.
As previously mentioned, at least to start their careers, O’Neal and Howard shared eerily similar trajectories. Both started their careers playing at All-Star levels, won a Rookie of the Year with the Magic, and didn’t have to wait long to guide that franchise all the way to the NBA Finals, with both being dismissed quickly when they got there, O’Neal in a sweep by the Houston Rockets, and Howard in five games by the Lakers.
Not long after, both would take their talents to the West Coast and play alongside Kobe Bryant with the Lakers. O’Neal and Bryant would find immense success with one another despite their rocky relationship, winning three straight championships around the turn of the millennium. Meanwhile, Howard’s tenure with Bryant and Steve Nash is now remembered as one of the great failed superteam experiments in NBA history, as the team was swept out of the first round by the San Antonio Spurs, albeit with Bryant out of the lineup due to injury.
From there, both O’Neal and Howard would bounce around the league, with O’Neal winning another championship with the Miami Heat, while Howard came relatively close but couldn’t get over the hump with the Houston Rockets.
Still, it’s a bit jarring for the two to still be discussing their disagreements all of these years later.
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