Shaquille O'Neal appears to have no interest in ending his beef with Dwight Howard. Just days after O'Neal and Howard got into a back-and-forth over the "Superman" nickname, the former threw shade at the latter by sharing a picture and a clip of Chris Paul posterizing him, on Instagram.
That picture would have been bad enough, but O'Neal made sure his followers got to see that clip from 2006 as well.
In case you've never seen it, you can check it out below.
I think that was more of a great play by Paul than something to clown Howard over. It's probably one of the most underrated dunks in recent NBA history. While Paul got Howard on that play, the latter had the last laugh, as the Orlando Magic beat the New Orleans Hornets 86-83.
Howard finished the game with 16 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. Paul, meanwhile, put up 19 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, and 1 steal.
Getting back to O'Neal, I wish he'd just stop taking shots and throwing shade at Howard at this point. The 52-year-old just comes across as someone who is very immature when he keeps doing it from time to time. Will O'Neal stop, though? Almost certainly not.
We know of all the harsh words that O'Neal has had for Howard in public, but it appears he has said worse in private. On Above The Rim with DH 12, Howard revealed O'Neal has sent him some very disrespectful messages.
"I done already said whatever it is we could chop it up, got no issue with this man. He said some things to me, personal messages that I ain't going to reveal in public, that was very disrespectful."
Howard has indeed tried to end whatever beef there is but to no avail. O'Neal seemingly has no interest in mending fences and it's a real shame. What makes this whole situation even worse, is that this animosity has seemingly stemmed not from some nasty on-court incident, but from that Superman nickname.
O'Neal was the "original" Superman and didn't take too kindly to Howard donning the cape in the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest. The fact that Dwight started being referred to as Superman after that contest seemed to irk Shaq and he has never gotten over that.
Back in 2022, it had seemed like the beef was finally over when O'Neal said he would no longer hurt Howard's "feelings" after his mother had scolded him for messing with the younger big man. He did actually stop for a while but was then back at it and hasn't stopped since.
If O'Neal's own mother couldn't get him to stop, it is safe to say no one in the world would be able to. I think Howard needs to realize that as well and he probably should just ignore all that noise. You do wonder how different their relationship would have been today, had Howard never donned that Superman cape in 2008.
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