‘Never Had Altercations’: Shaquille O’Neal Clears his Dynamic with Dwyane Wade

Shaquille O’Neal might have played with teams like the Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and the Boston Celtics, but the Diesel had championship glory with two teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat.

After winning three dominant championship rings alongside Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, Shaq wanted a new challenge and the Miami Heat became the unlikely target for the big man, which was led by an electrifying guard in Dwyane Wade.

Shaquille O’Neal opens up about his relation with Dwyane Wade

The Miami Heat were making some strides in the Eastern Conference in the 2003-04 season, and one of their shooting guards in Dwyane Wade had a great rookie season.

Given that a player of Shaq’s caliber was available in the market and a youngster like Wade was showing his class in his rookie season itself, the Heat pulled the trigger in one of their biggest trades by bringing in ‘Diesel’ for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant and a future first-round pick.

But there were some doubts about how a veteran Shaq would fit alongside Wade. Things worked out on the court as the Heat won their first title in franchise history in the 2004-05 season, but how was the dynamic between both the superstars?

In a recent appearance at All the Smoke podcast, the big man opened up about his dynamic with Wade. “When I got to D-Wade, I was like, ‘I know you heard all the stories, it’s your team.‘”

Shaq added, “When the Lakers were talking about trading me, I was like, ‘I know where I wanna go.’ I wanna go back to Florida….. and play with him (Dwyane Wade).

“As soon as I got there I said, ‘look man, you have this, you have heard that, me and you gonna have no problem, you’re the man. Take as many shots as you want. I have to get 28, 10 to make everybody feel good, think myself real good. We never had problems.”

Despite not being in his prime, the big man was pretty efficient in the Heat. If the supporting cast around Wade and Shaq would have been better, we might have seen Shaq won more trophies with the Heat.