Despite helping the Los Angeles Lakers win the title last season, Dwight Howard still hasn't won over the good graces of Hall of Fame big man Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq previously called out Howard for excessively celebrating the title, and O'Neal doubled down on this criticism in a recent episode of his podcast.
Shaq then went on to defend his position, expressing why he has every right to criticize Howard and any other big man in the game for that matter:
“You can only hate if you haven’t achieved,” O’Neal said, via Lou Flavius of TalkBasket.net. “I’ve been there and done that, I’m still the Lord supreme of all big men. I’m the last big man to get an MVP in this league, so I’m still in charge. When another big man gets an MVP, I will resign gracefully.”
Fair point from the Lakers legend here.
In Howard's defense, however, he too has been an MVP contender in the past. The closest Howard came to winning the coveted title was in 2011, when he came in second to Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls. Interestingly, Howard was plying his trade with the Orlando Magic, a team with which O'Neal also made his mark on early in his career. Needless to say, there are a couple of notable similarities in O'Neal and Howard's career paths.
Howard is a far cry from his prime days, however. He played a minor role in the Lakers' title run, which is exactly why Shaq isn't too happy about how Howard has been celebrating his first career championship. Clearly, O'Neal just doesn't like Howard.
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