What Is the Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard Beef All About?

More than a decade has gone by, but there seems to be no end to Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal beef. The most recent update has been Howard calling out Shaq for lying. Notably, the 4x NBA champ had recently stated that Howard never contacted him to settle down the differences.

It is worth mentioning that the differences being talked about may find their origin in the year 2008. And what is even more interesting is the root cause of the origin of the beef. In fact, some fans may find the origin story of this feud to be hilarious.

A look back on how the Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal beef started

Howard and Shaq had more career parallels with each other than one would think. Both of them got drafted by Orlando Magic, both the players received mentorship from Brian Hill, and surprisingly both of them struggled with free throws. In fact, for a long time, there were frequent praises by Howard for Shaquille O’Neal in his media interviews. The two even had a fun dance-off during the 2007 NBA All-Stars on the practice floor in Las Vegas.

But everything was about to change with the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Notably, Howard appeared for the contest in a Superman t-shirt while wearing a cape. More importantly, he even won the Slam Dunk Contest, and multiple articles back then mentioned him as Superman. This did not go down well with the 4x NBA champ, and he accused Howard of trying to steal his persona. He even pointed out that the then Magic star had no achievements in his name to be worthy of the title.

It is worth mentioning that Shaq’s nickname for himself, Superman, has been one of his favorite ones. He even has a Superman tattoo on his shoulder and multiple cars from his collections also have Superman’s symbol of hope on them. So it is obvious Shaquille O’Neal was not letting Howard claim the title that belonged to him. However, because of the prolonged beef and the insane vertical leap at the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest made the nickname stick with Howard. And so did the beef between the two players, especially from Shaq’s end. He misses no chance of coming down heavily on Howard.

Popular instances where Shaq and Howard exchanged words

One of the most popular incidents of this feud has been the time Dwight Howard debuted in the T1 league. Notably, the 6’10” player displayed an impressive performance with 38 points, 25 rebounds, 9 assists, and 9 blocks in the debut match. This led to his team, Taoyuan Leopards, winning the game by 120-115. 

However, appearing on his ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq’, the 4x NBA champ had a sarcastic take on this. “He’s supposed to have 30 points playing against a dude 5’8″… Good job. This league reminds me of the Lifetime Fitness league every Saturday when I go work out on Saturday. Great job, Dwight. I’m proud of you,” he stated on the podcast. 

Later, Dwight took to his Instagram account and went live to express his disappointment on Shaquille O’Neal’s remarks. “The world is too big to hate on another man. I’ve never in my life hated on you as a man, as a basketball player, anything like that. … I know I show love to everyone in the world. Stop hating.” He further urged not to disrespect the T1 league and his teammates in Taiwan. “You’re too old to be hating. You’re too big to be hating… And I don’t think that’s hating. I think that’s jealousy…”

However, it is not as if Howard never attempted to end this beef. In fact, at the beginning of this year itself, the 38-year-old stated in a post that both of them could work on fixing the problem, but Shaquille O’Neal replied with “Nope lol”.

Now the latest interesting turn of events has been Shaq alleging that Howard never reached him for advice. “That’s a lie… There hasn’t been a time where Shaq has just reached out like that. I’ve reached out to Shaq myself on multiple occasions,” Howard responded, appearing on an episode of ‘The OGs’. Now it is to be seen how the ‘Big Diesel’ responds to Dwight’s recent statement.