Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal have exchanged another round of unpleasantries, but Shaq insists the latest will be the last.
Howard spoke about the longstanding beef between him and Shaq during a recent appearance on the “Ray Daniels Presents” podcast. Howard said he has never wanted to be like Shaq but doesn’t understand why the Hall of Fame center would be so bothered if Howard wanted to emulate him in certain ways.
“I never wanted to be Shaq at any level. Now, have I wanted to take certain things from him, his life, and implement with my life? Hell yeah,” Howard said. “I do that with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, LeBron James, all these people. Why? Because they have certain things that I’m like, hey, I could use that and make myself better.
“I never disrespected him, but he’s always had something to say. There’s times where I got enough said and I’m like, ‘Yo, Shaq, this gotta stop man.'”
Howard said he worked with someone on “Dancing with the Stars” who was close with Shaq. Howard asked that person to get a message to Shaq and ask if O’Neal wanted to sit down and have a conversation. Howard said the war of words reached the point where he wondered if he and Shaq should “throw hands.”
“We done past the basketball. You not in the NBA. You done did your time. I done did my time, and we still going. We still going on with the pettiness. So, at what point does it stop? Do you have a real issue? Because if you do have a real issue, let’s move past it. If we gotta fight it out, let’s fight it out.”
Dwight Howard is fed up with Shaq constantly talking about him and says he wanted to show up at the TNT studio to confront him
“At what point does it stop?”
( Ray Daniels Presents / h/t @ArtOfDialogue_ )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 7, 2025
Shaq has apparently heard enough, or so he says. He responded to Howard via Twitter and vowed to never say Howard’s name again.
“@DwightHoward the fact u think I care about u is funny, but I won’t ever bring your name up again sensitive big man, a jokester that can’t take a joke. Won’t ever say your name again ever again. Have a great day and now u have been deleted. Have a great day. #inevercared #trustme #dontneedvalidationyoudo #stayoffpodcasts #thefactyouthinkicareisfunny #yougottashowrespecttogetrespect #nowyouredeadtome,” O’Neal wrote.
@DwightHoward the fact u think I care about u is funny, but I won’t ever bring your name up again sensitive big man, a jokester that can’t take a joke. Won’t ever say your name again ever again. Have a great day and now u have been deleted. Have a great day. #inevercared #trustme…
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) January 7, 2025
Howard still felt the need to get the last word.
“I know you care. Cuz yo insecure ass been hating and talking shit for 20 years. You to big to be this insecure. I hope you don’t bring my name up again. 52 years old tweeting me. And still hating. Now all this time you was joking. You always been jealous. Jealous of Kobe, penny, dwayde. You jealous of Charles too. Go move around big lazy insecure ass. I still have that long 5 Paragraph direct message you sent me a couple years ago telling me that I’m not that great to hate. And you still doing it. It’s 2025 grow the hell up. and move on,” Howard replied.
The tension between Shaq and Howard goes back nearly two decades. Howard tried to ramp things up even more recently by challenging O’Neal to a boxing match, but Shaq’s response was not all that surprising.
Time will tell if the beef is truly over.
