There was once an underdog team who defeated an NBA powerhouse's bid for another crown to add to their dynasty. Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance documentary reminded us of them. In 1995, Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, along with the rest of Orlando Magic, pulled an upset and kicked the Chicago Bulls out of the playoffs in the semifinals round.
The Magic defeated all the odds that NBA season — even when they did not win the title. Last Tuesday, two of the franchise’s most prolific players in that era were reunited in an episode of NBA on TNT.
The talk show highlighted Hardaway’s career. O’Neal praised his former teammate throughout the segment.
“Penny is a mixture of all the other guys that I have played with. At times he was D-Wade because he could just take over the game. and I would have to tell him sometimes like ‘Penny, you go ahead and go, this is you.'”
O’Neal also compared Hardaway's passing to LeBron James'. Moreover, his killer instincts like that of Kobe Bryant.
Indeed Hardaway had the makings of an NBA legend. He had already been racking up numbers, boasting an average of more than 20-points-per-game early in his college career, even before he joined Magic. His best season (1996) for Orlando handed the franchise an impressive 60-22 win-loss count. There, Hardaway averaged 21.7 points per game with 7.1 assists and 4.3 rebounds.
O’Neal saw Hardaway’s potential right away. In the same interview, Shaq shares how he convinced the Orlando management to pair him with Hardaway during the draft season.
“If y’all don’t give me Penny Hardaway, ‘cause I’ve just been playing with this guy shooting movies all summer, me and him could be the new Magic and Kareem of this era.”
The 6-foot-7 guard was a three-time All-NBA First Team and a four-time All Star. However, he was forced to retire early because of his enduring knee and ankle injuries. Shaq lamented this tragic turn of events:
“If he didn’t have injuries, I think people would, you know, definitely hear his name more because Penny was the coldest young cat that I’ve seen ever since D-Wade, Lebron, and Kobe.”
While Penny Hardaway's NBA Hall-of-Fame chances have been one of the biggest what-ifs in the industry, to Shaq and the rest of Orlando — he is and always will be a Magic legend.
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