Shaquille O'Neal was an absolute force to be reckoned with during his time in the league. Unsurprisingly, Shaq came across more than a few rivals that wanted to knock him off his perch. One of them happened to be Hall of Fame big man Alonzo Mourning.
Shaq and Mourning had their fair share of intense matchups back in the day. However, at one point in their respective careers, the two ended up becoming teammates on the Miami Heat. At that point, O'Neal knew that he just had to end his personal rivalry with Mourning.
In a recent episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, O'Neal revealed how he did just that:
“I had beef with Alonzo Mourning. And then when he came to the Miami Heat, I had to sit him down and apologize,” Shaq admitted. “I said, ‘You know what Alonzo, I was a hypocrite. I never knew you was this great.’ Alonzo Mourning is a great dude.
“Once he got in that locker room, I was like, ‘Man, this dude is just really, really cool. We should’ve did this a couple years ago.’”
True enough, the two settled their score and they ended up being quite a formidable force for the Heat's frontcourt. So much so, that they even went on to win a title together in 2006.
Shaq was speaking in the context of Patrick Beverley joining the Los Angeles Lakers. According to O'Neal, Beverley and Westbrook should be able to settle their beef now that they're teammates — much like he and Mourning did. That is, of course, under the major assumption that the Lakers decide not to trade Russ this summer.
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