In the same week of June 2008, Shaquille O’Neal was past his prime at Phoenix and dissing Kobe Bryant in a freestyle rap at a club. At the same time, over at his old stomping grounds at the Staples Center, history was being made by the Lakers’ sister team. The 2008 Los Angeles Sparks rookie Candace Parker recorded two consecutive dunks on her way to a dual MVP and ROTY win. She was the second woman to dunk in the WNBA. When the first one happened, Shaq was still a Laker. What Parker did was literally and figuratively a game-changer in the WNBA, and people wanted more of it. O’Neal is still sticking to that agenda.

But Shaquille O’Neal’s demand to lower the rims differs from his desire to see more dunks in the WNBA. Over a decade before Parker disowned Shaq over the ‘lower the rims’ campaign (twice), Ace promised the W will have its spectacle one way or another.

Candace Parker’s early prophesy for the WNBA

Sparks legend Lisa Leslie made the first slam dunk in the WNBA in 2002. Six years later, her young mentee repeated the feat in the same venue twice. On June 22, 2008, when the Sparks hosted Indiana Fever, rookie Candace Parker became the second woman to make a dunk. On June 24, 2008, she became the only one to make consecutive dunks in the league in the game against Seattle.

She is the first woman to dunk in the NCAA tournament and has done it seven times in college at Tennessee. Parker would make the WNBA thrilling for many reasons, including her aerial moves. In 2008, fans wanted to see it more often. At that time, the future WNBA champ didn’t guarantee she’d repeat her high-flying moves, but she knew someone else would.

“I do know that more and more women are going to do it and it’s something that people are going to have to accept,” she said while receiving the Honda-Broderick Cup, an award given to the top female college athlete of the year (she reportedly flew between New York and LA between both dunk games to receive the award).

Some fans wanted it. But sports analysts claimed the WNBA players needed to balance spectacle with practicality. So, in 2008, they didn’t see women’s basketball reaching the same level as the NBA. Spoiler alert: Brittney Griner arrived in the league to make the record for most dunks—26—in WNBA history.

But the league wouldn’t reach its popular era until 16 years after Candace Parker’s dunk. Ace retired this year and has a decent presence on TNT, arguing with Shaq.

Shaq and Ace agree to disagree

During the Lakers’ three-peat, walking away with aching knees was a win after the Big Aristotle posterized his rivals. Shaquille O’Neal enjoys throwing it down at the rim more than the regular fan. He not only wants to see more of that in the WNBA, but he had an unwelcome suggestion for it—lower rims would equal a higher frequency of dunks.

Now, Shaq isn’t the only one who has recommended lowering the WNBA rims—he’s literally just the biggest. Before he presented this suggestion again on Angel Reese’s podcast, he referred to women’s volleyball to advocate for lowering the rims in 2021, in Candace Parker’s vicinity.

Candace responded with a similar promise: “It’s coming, opportunities are coming…Lailaa, she’s into dance, but my next child will be drop-step dunking. I promise you.” She’s referring to her eldest child, Lailaa. She has had two sons since then, and there has been no word on Lailaa’s hoop aspirations.

A’ja Wilson also challenged the ‘lower the rim’ faction, claiming she could work on her vertical and dunk. But changing the height of the basket has more cons. Shaq again appealed to her, claiming he wants the WNBA viewership to grow so MVPs like herself would get $300 million contracts.

Instead of A’ja, Candace popped in a comment with, “Goodbye Shaq.” She’s not breaking up with Shaq as a friend. They have that kind of banter, and Parker is a mentor to O’Neal’s youngest, Me’Arah (who, by the way, can dunk). But while Candace Parker remains firm that the WNBA will have slam dunks and Shaquille O’Neal wants to enforce it drastically, they will never agree.