Getting an apology out of Shaquille O’Neal is a thing in itself, but not if the big man realized his fault on his own. Something similar happened in the recent episode of Shaq’s The Big Podcast. The 4x NBA champ had once undervalued Mark Cuban, considering his fortune to be a matter of luck. But realizing his mistake, he did not hesitate to apologize to his friend of decades.

“We’ve been friends for 30 years. I owe you an apology. Because when you stepped on the scene, I was like, ‘these kids they sold an internet company’. And that’s why I called you lucky… But see I had no idea you did business school Indiana. So from Man to Man I apologize for calling you lucky,” Shaq said on his podcast. For those who are not aware, the internet company in the discussion here is Broadcast.com.

Broadcast.com, the Internet radio company in discussion, was founded by Cameron Christopher Jaeb. And co-founders, Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban, looked after the company’s daily operations until they sold it to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1999. Subsequently, even before the completion of a year, Cuban bought a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million — the time Shaq referred to as “when you (Cuban) stepped on the scene”.

However, over time, the bond between Mark Cuban and Shaquille O’Neal only grew, as mentioned by the 4x NBA champ himself. In fact, the 66-year-old billionaire was really disappointed the day Shaq hung up his basketball shoes. He even stated the same through an email that the NBA would no longer be the same with Big Diesel’s absence.

And this wasn’t a one-sided fan moment from Cuban, but a reflection of the bond shared between the two. The fact Shaq once completely had his mind made up to move to the Mavericks and even Mark wanted so is a testament. “Trust me, I tried to get to Dallas many times. Me and Mark was working behind the scenes. And He’s (Mark) like, ‘The Lakers won’t do it.’ And I was like ‘F*uck make them do it, Mark.’ And they wouldn’t do it,” Shaq once stated on his podcast.

Why did Shaquille O’Neal’s desire to be traded to the Mavericks from the Lakers fail?

At the time, Shaq was still a dominant force and Dirk Nowitzki was a rising star. So, what happened to this blockbuster trade? Well, Shaq’s time in Los Angeles was clearly ending. His feud with Kobe Bryant had reached its peak, and after the Lakers were dismantled by the Pistons in the 2004 Finals, Shaq wanted out.

The Lakers were willing to trade him, and with Shaq’s strong ties to Dallas—and even his wife openly saying, “Right now, I’d love to go to Dallas” on national TV—the move seemed like a done deal. But then came the Lakers’ demand—they wanted Dirk.

At the time, not everyone believed in Dirk as a future champion. And the NBA hadn’t yet fully embraced the three-point revolution that would eventually make him a legend. Still, Mark Cuban stood by his guy, refusing to let Dirk go. “He’s as close to untouchable as we’d get,” Cuban declared, shutting down the trade talks.