Everyone knows Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant players ever, and it is tough to compare Charles Barkley to the icon as they are both uniquely talented in their own rights. When presented with the option to pick between Shaq and another Orlando Magic legend, Barkley was quick to give his response, just to make the Big Aristotle mad.
The response from the crew and Shaq’s reaction made this a hilarious segment on ‘Inside the NBA‘. But who was the other player? And why would Shaq be upset to hear it?
Charles Barkley did not hold back
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The Orlando Magic posted on Twitter an image of Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal. They captioned it “Pick one“. This post was brought up during ‘Inside the NBA‘.
Shaq was visibly not happy to see himself being compared to Dwight Howard. Shaq’s first response was, “What do you mean a rivalry?“. He does not believe they were even close enough in skill to have a rivalry.
He said that he already sold his house in Orlando so they could pick whoever they wanted. Barkley knows just how to get under Shaq’s skin. He said, “Imma go with Dwight“.
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Shaq kept staring at Barkley after hearing this, while the rest of the cast were laughing hysterically. Barkley then wanted Kenny Smith to join in with him, but he stayed out of it. Kenny then said that he would pick Shaq. But why is Shaq not happy to be compared to Dwight Howard?
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The beef between Dwight and Shaq
Shaq has not been happy with Dwight ever since he used a Superman logo during a dunk contest back in the day. Shaq feels like Dwight is trying to follow in his footsteps when he also went to the Los Angeles Lakers after leaving the Magic.
Back in 2012, Shaq refused to call Dwight Howard the best center in the league. He said Andrew Bynum was better than him. Shaq also criticized Dwight for crying after winning a championship, as he did little to win the ring.
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But Shaq did soften up a little towards Dwight in 2022. Shaq was asked who in the NBA has been able to dunk as well as Shaq, and he replied that young Dwight Howard was the closest to him. Maybe time has changed Shaq’s feelings towards Dwight, and he is not opposed to other people taking the spotlight.