Both Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal were No. 1 overall picks by the Orlando Magic. And, interestingly enough, both of their championship runs kicked off with the same team, the Los Angeles Lakers. But, at the same time, there’s no beef like the one between Dwight and Shaq. Yet, everything changed when Dwight was announced as a Hall of Famer. That news totally flipped the script on their rivalry.

A few weeks back, Dwight Howard made a big announcement: he’ll have five presenters on stage when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame. One of them is none other than his former opponent, Kevin Garnett. He’s also got some legendary big men joining him: Hakeem Olajuwon, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Dennis Rodman. And the fifth? Shockingly, it’s Shaq. Yes, you heard that right. 

Before the upcoming big day, Dwight reached out to Shaq, asking him to play a major role in his Hall of Fame moment. “I just want to settle this like the two successful HOF black men we are!… Come on to the podcast and let’s hash this,” Dwight said. To his credit, Shaq agreed. But surprisingly, this reunion came sooner than anyone expected.

Shaq and Dwight chose a different stage to settle their long-standing feud. Instead of Howard’s podcast, they met on Shaq’s own podcast. For the first time, these two basketball legends came together and talked about everything. The feud’s beginning, how it escalated, and all the drama in between. Surprisingly, Shaq took the first step to clear the air. He asked Dwight, “What was it that I said that made you think I didn’t like you?”  Dwight responded, pointing out, “The part with these direct messages that we had, and you were saying that uh, you’re not great to hate and stuff like that.”  But it turned out that was just the beginning of the drama. But the real spark that fueled their feud? It all came from an incident on the TNT set.

Dwight didn’t hold back, recalling, “Just watching like TNT, it was an episode where you picked up my cake and then just threw it on the ground.” To give you some context, this happened during Shaq’s 50th birthday celebration on TNT, where the hosts had a cake with Dwight’s face on it, poking fun at their “superman” feud. 

But now, after all these years of tension, it looks like these two have finally come together as adults to clear the air. And with this, we can only hope that this marks the end of a decade-long feud that, honestly, had no real reason to keep going. Now Dwight can step onto that Hall of Fame stage, with Shaq by his side, and see their success come full circle.

The history of Dwight and Shaquille O’Neal’s decade-old smoke

It all kicked off with a nickname. Both claimed the title of “Superman,” but the smoke between Dwight and Shaquille O’Neal ran much deeper. One of the biggest flashpoints came during the 2020 NBA Bubble championship, when Dwight helped the Lakers grab their 17th title. Instead of celebrating him, Shaq threw shade, saying, “You’ve got to stay in your role. Don’t be a guy who’s just happy to be there.” 

From there, the beef snowballed. Shaq constantly made side-by-side stat comparisons, always painting himself as the more dominant big man. In interviews and on TV, Shaq never missed a chance to downplay Dwight’s legacy and accomplishments as a center in the league. But this year, everything took a turn. Dwight is headed to the Naismith Hall of Fame, and asked Shaq to be one of his presenters. And Shaq agreed.

The two finally sat down on Shaq’s podcast, hashing out years of jabs, shade, and pure competition. Now, with this decade-long feud behind them, fans are eager to hear their unfiltered conversation and see what comes next.