Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal has picked on Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee a lot, so much so that Howard and McGee talked about fighting The Diesel.
Before he joined the Warriors back in 2016, McGee had this reputation of being a goofy player on the court who really didn’t know how to play basketball. As a result, McGee was the star of O’Neal’s show “Shaqtin’ A Fool.”
Every week, O’Neal made fun of McGee when he would do something mindless and funny on the floor. It took a toll on McGee and his love for the game was clearly affected.
Meanwhile, O’Neal has been ripping Howard for years. Shaq, who won three titles with the Lakers, was never a fan of Howard using his “Superman” nickname. O'Neal once said Howard wasn’t a dominant big man and was only a good pick-and-roll player.
On Lakers guard Danny Green's podcast, Howard opened up about how he and McGee briefly talked about fighting Shaq before coming to their senses, via Anthony Irwin of Silverscreenandroll.com:
“We did. I asked him. I was like, ‘Hey, did you want to fight Shaq?' He was like, ‘Man I did, man!’ I was like, ‘Man I did too,’ but I was like, ‘There’s two things we’ve got to worry about. He’s a cop, so if we hurt him we’re going to jail. And two, if Shaq gets a hold of us, it’s over with. You’ve got to hit him and move, because if not? If Shaq gets you? It’s over with.'
“We talked about that. We laughed about a good 30 minutes, just talking about Shaq and all the things he said about us. But you know what it kind of did? It kind of kept us grounded, but it also made us realize, all right — every night we step in the gym, on the court, whatever we’re doing, let’s go 110 percent because we don’t want somebody like this, or anybody ever questioning who we are as basketball players and men.”
Both Howard and McGee are key players for the Lakers this season. Both guys provide rim protection for LA and score on easy baskets thanks to LeBron James.
Howard doesn’t have time to get into another battle with O’Neal since he's on a non-guaranteed deal with the Lakers and has to stay focused. McGee, meanwhile, won two rings with the Warriors, so he's at peace with his game.
Follow Us
Subscribe