The sky is blue, and Shaq has beef. The other party is interesting, though. Shaquille O’Neal has held a deep-seated grudge against Dan LeBatard for almost a decade. Yes, the very same Miami Heat fan favorite media talking head, Charles Barkley’s old friend, and former ESPN employee. It may have slipped under the radar for most, but this was so heated that O’Neal foresaw LeBatard’s ESPN exit. A decade later, Dan LeBatard tells Shaq’s ex-teammate he’d rather bury the beef. Or rehash it.

This feud started a decade after O’Neal played for the Miami Heat. Dan LeBatard dropped by The OGs podcast where Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller brought up a fan’s question, “Have you made up with Shaq?” The hosts didn’t even know there was beef between both. When Haslem asks, “You and big fella beefing,” LeBatard says, “I hope not.” 

But O’Neal has not appeared on the Miami-based journalist’s show over the years the way Chuck regularly does. So things are at least frosty on Shaq’s end. “It’s not a beef that I want,” so LeBatard claims. Yet he’s close to triggering Shaq once more when he says, “I’m surprised that in some spots he’s more sensitive than I thought he would be.”

LeBatard doesn’t mean disrespect towards Shaq, even says he’s one of the best NBA players and therefore should be immune to certain critiques. But this is TNT’s ‘Mr. Sensitive.’ He took some criticism personally. This is kind of making Dan’s point, “If indeed he did get mad at me for saying that he was too sensitive, then he is too sensitive, and I get to be right about him being too sensitive while wanting no quarrel with him.” 

UD found it hilarious but also said that O’Neal has a friendship with Stephen A. Smith based on the latter’s criticism of him. Which Dan LeBatard would be open to.

The irony behind Shaquille O’Neal and Dan’s beef

The supposed one-sided beef went down in 2016. LeBatard was critical of Shaquille O’Neal’s leadership skills. That spurred Shaq’s tirade on social media. It’s hard to tell if the beef was serious because the posts were hilarious.

Until O’Neal was on The Big Podcast ranting about Dan. “I know what he’s doing. He’s taking shots because he wants a response because his show on ESPN sucks. They’re struggling, he sucks, he’s always sucked, he sucked as a writer in Miami. He wants to get a response to get people to see his name, but guess what Dan, we don’t know your name. You’re a bum…Don’t try to take shots to try to better your ratings. Because your time is up at ESPN. Your show won’t be around next year, guarantee it.”

O’Neal’s prediction was a little off. LeBatard left ESPN in 2022 on a bitter note with nothing to do with Mr. Sensitive.

These comments look a lot like Shaq criticizing Dwight Howard and Rudy Gobert. Both players have lashed out at him similarly. Very recently, too, he accused Howard of taking shots at him to stay relevant and make his podcast, Above the Rim, succeed. So irony, thy cup is overflowing.

The lack of interaction between Shaq and LeBatard looks like a sign that the big man’s holding on to the beef. Dan continues to laugh it off as he did a decade ago when he read out Kobe’s quotes, calling Shaq lazy.