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Shaquille O'Neal Makes Exciting Announcement on Wednesday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Paolo Songco | Last updated Apr 23, 2025 5:52 PM ET

Shaquille O'Neal is widely regarded as one of the greatest big men to ever pick up a basketball. The Hall of Famer has also earned a reputation for being a straight shooter, which is something that he's proven time and time again in his career as a sports broadcaster.

Every now and then, O'Neal's candidness gets him into a bit of trouble. However, there is one particular individual with whom the four-time NBA champ appears to have a lingering personal conflict.

This individual is former NBA MVP Dwight Howard, who, incidentally, shares a similar career path with O'Neal.

Also regarded as an all-time great big man, Howard started his career as the No. 1 overall pick of the Orlando Magic -- just like O'Neal did some 12 years earlier. Howard also joined the Los Angeles Lakers immediately after his tenure with the Magic, where he would also play alongside the late, great Kobe Bryant.

While O'Neal won three championships in L.A., Howard bagged his only career title with the Lakers, albeit in his second stint with the squad.

These two have been involved in a lot of back-and-forth for nearly two decades, with O'Neal blatantly and constantly criticizing Howard, which has prompted the latter to clap back on multiple occasions. All this has led fans to believe that there truly is some sort of lingering beef between these two.

The good news, however, is that they now appear to have squashed whatever conflict they may have had. On Wednesday, O'Neal made an exciting podcast announcement, revealing that Howard will be the guest for the next episode of "The Big Podcast."

"The meet up we’ve all been waiting for… Shaq x Dwight dropping soon " the post from O'Neal show read.

The meet up we’ve all been waiting for… Shaq x Dwight dropping soon pic.twitter.com/tkuPHyJ8VF
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) April 23, 2025

Based on the podcast preview, it seems that O'Neal asked Howard some hard-hitting questions to address their so-called "beef." This includes the 53-year-old wanting to know what made Howard think that O'Neal did not like him.

For his part, Howard appeared to be very open in his responses, which seems to point to the fact that these two had a brutally honest -- and productive -- conversation.

The podcast will drop on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, and more than a few fans will definitely be anticipating the release of that episode.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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