Sorting out one controversy could have led to another for Shaquille O’Neal. If you don’t know, Shaq and Dwight Howard have sorted out their beef and did a podcast together. Obviously, they aired out each other’s grievances face to face and spoke about all the topics possible. One such was about WNBA star and Shaq’s ‘niece’ Angel Reese. But even before any further comments could have been made, the Lakers legend shot it down. Probably remembered the backlash his comments caused last time.

The Big Aristotle made an appearance on Unapologetically Angel and discussed women’s basketball players dunking more. His suggestion was to lower the rim, which Angel Reese shut down quickly. “Just so we can dunk? No. I hate when men say that.” In order to prove his point, Shaquille O’Neal’s next statement caused quite a stir.“Imagine you had on the same little shorts you had on at ‘Wild ‘n Out’ show dunking. How many T-shirts you gon’ sell?” 

Yes, the 4x NBA champion’s statement caused a lot of drama on social media. The 22-year-old WNBA star was visibly upset, “I’m not imagining anything!” Being a mentor and a father figure to Angel Reese, fans did not approve of Shaq’s statement. So, maybe the Lakers legend chose a safer option to not talk about the Sky forward. But how did her name come up? Well, it was the co-host of Shaquille O’Neal’s podcast who asked a question.

“Dwight, a person, an athlete, an actor, anybody that you think is on the rise right now, skyrocketing, that you want to give a shout-out to? Could be in the sports world, could be in the music world. Anything,” Adam Lefkoe asked. Dwight Howard put some thought into it and said, “Uhhhh, man… Oh I been seeing her everywhere—Angel Reese. She been everywhere.” Even Lefkoe’s next words weren’t what he intended to be. “That’s Shaq’s girl,” That’s when Shaquille O’Neal stepped in.

“Watch out! Watch out! Yeah, hey, watch out!” After this, the trio on the podcast started laughing. Howard even said, “He right, though. I shouldn’t have said that one.” There might be a reason why even the 3x DPOY doesn’t want to take Reese’s name, because he did it last time, that was another social media storm.

Dwight Howard pokes fun at Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘niece’

During her rookie season, Angel Reese took the league and made it her double-double backyard. The trend for her continued from LSU to the Chicago Sky. But one thing that was different was that her rebounding skill was under scrutiny. She did pass Sylvia Fowles’ record (404) for the most rebounds in a single season. But there was an anomaly that people figured out.

Despite being a better rebounder, many argue her rebounds are less impressive due to how many come on her own misses. One clip on X featured the Sky forward with 4 offensive rebounds to her name, after missing up chances of her own. At the time, Dwight Howard was in Taiwan and was busy playing a pick-up game in a park. After several missed layups, Howard jokingly said to the players, “We’re pulling an Angel Reese.”

So, both Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard have previously caused issues talking about Reese. That’s why even after Howard’s good intentions of speaking about the WNBA star, he took it back.

This whole mess isn’t just about Shaq and Howard slipping up. It’s about how folks talk about women in sports, period. The WNBA’s been blowing up, with draft viewership spiking 328% in 2024, thanks to stars like Reese and Caitlin Clark. But that spotlight comes with extra eyes on how guys like Shaq and Howard talk about players like her. Reese has been real about wanting respect, not just for her game but for women’s hoops overall. So when fans on X feel like she’s being dissed, they let it be known.