1 week Ago By Thomas Gamba-Ellis
It appears that there might be a truce in the battle for NBA’s Superman. Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard have seemed to put their years-long checkered history behind them following the 39-year-old’s induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this week. O’Neal called Howard “my guy” on an episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq” Thursday, saying that he plans to walk out the eight-time All Star for his Hall of Fame induction.
Howard asked if O’Neal, along with other Hall of Fame big men, could escort him during the ceremony. “Shaq appreciate you man it will be an honor to have you KG, DROD, Hakeem and Kareem walk me into the Basketball Heavens,” Howard wrote on X earlier this month. “I’ll do it, I’ll be there,” O’Neal said on his podcast in response to Howard’s request.
This exchange comes just months after the pair’s feud heavily escalated, with Howard mentioning the possibility of a physical altercation. As a guest on Ray Daniels’ “The GAUDs Show” in January, Howard explained how he has been unable to squash his longstanding beef with O’Neal. “Never disrespected him,” Howard, who left the NBA to play overseas in 2022, said of Shaq.
“But he’s always had something to say. There’s times where I’ve gotten upset and I’m like, ‘Yo, Shaq, this got to stop, man.’ I tried to [talk to him].
“At this point, I’m like, ‘Do we need to throw hands? What are we doing?’ Because I have not ever — for me, the only thing I’ve done with Shaq is mimic his voice. But what else can I mimic him about? He’s Shaquille O’Neal, he’s the most dominant center ever. But again, he keeps saying stuff about me.
So it’s like, ‘Hey bro, do we really need to go ahead and squabble?’” O’Neal and Howard’s disputes started when both were still playing in the NBA with discourse surrounding the “Superman” nickname, which was associated with Shaq during his prime. Howard adopted the nickname when he entered the league, with O’Neal criticizing him for not being dominant enough to take on the namesake. “That’s the thing that I hate the most is the fact that he always thought I was trying to be him or be like him,” Howard said.
“But again, if I wanted to be you or be like you, shouldn’t you take that as a compliment and to show how great you are as a player or a person? I ain’t never wanted to be Shaq at any level. Now, have I wanted to take certain things from him, his life and implement in my life? Hell yeah. I do that with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, LeBron James, all these people.
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