Rudy Gobert finally has some support from the NBA community! The 4x Defensive Player of the Year faced questions regarding his eligibility for these titles. Especially after the Minnesota Timberwolves’ defense failed to effectively contain the Luka Doncic-led Mavericks offense in last season’s conference finals. One of the most consistent critics of the French basketball star amid all of this was Shaquille O’Neal.

Now contradicting Shaq’s opinions on Gobert was Dwight Howard in his recent post on X. Notably, D12 himself had previously questioned the Wolves star’s DPOY award. But there was a reason behind it, as revealed by him in his X post. “Rudy you still my Dawg ! Keep Repping for the DPOY’s This year 💯 I don’t want nothing that get clipped by the media to be misconstrued ! I’m proud of you of everything you accomplished & anything I said is because I want to see the best of you,” he wrote.

Notably, Shaquille O’Neal had even gone to the extent of calling Rudy Gobert as one of the worst NBA players ever. And the 5x NBA champ had his own reasoning behind it. He believes that players who sign huge contracts like Gobert did with Utah Jazz once ($205 million), should play the worth of their contract. “If you sign a contract for 250 [million], show me 250,” Shaq had said.

He further backed his opinion by mentioning how he walks funny, has issues with his neck because he gave it all for his $120 million during his time. “You got guys like him that f— the system over and they’re making all this money and they can’t f*king play. I don’t respect guys like that,” he added. However, the 4x DPOY did not remain silent on the harsh criticism from Big Diesel.

Taking to his official account on X, the Wolves star expressed his disappointment at someone as accomplished as Shaq, getting triggered by another man’s finances and accomplishments. It’s clear things are not good between the two stars. And they never had been between Dwight and Shaq, as almost every NBA enthusiast would know. And now this recent support by D12 for Rudy Gobert could further intensify his beef with Big Diesel.

Howard recently denied Shaquille O’Neal’s claims against him

As most fans would know, the beef between the two stars started with a fight for the identity of the “Superman” of the NBA. A nickname that O’Neal held really close to himself, to the extent of tattooing it on himself. No wonder he did not like it when media outlets addressed Howard with the same name after D12 won the 2008 Slam Dunk contest wearing a superman tee and cape.

The 5x NBA champ back then commented Howard hadn’t done anything worthwhile to deserve the title. Ever since, the two stars haven’t seen each other eye to eye. More recently, D12 shared an IG post, highlighting his claim that he doesn’t need Shaq’s permission for the title of Superman. Big Diesel, however, did not hold himself back from commenting on the post.

“U can’t call yourself me and have one ring that u was a role player in getting. It’s only one baby. And he’s I said it,” he wrote. Dwight responded to the comment on his podcast, denying the 5x NBA champ’s claim, saying that he never called himself Shaq. Although the 15x All Star was referring to his nickname in his comment, Howard took it in a literal sense. From all it seems, there is no end to the beef between the two anytime soon.