The beef between Shaquille ‘Shaq’ O’Neal and Dwight Howard is officially over. The beef has been over for quite some time now, but it was made official prior to Dwight Howard being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. It’s a well deserved honor for one of the best big men to play in the NBA, and ahead of the induction, Shaq finally gave Howard his well-deserved flowers during an appearance on NBA TV with Dennis Scott.
Shaquille O’Neal showed up to the Hall of Fame ceremony wearing a blazer with a floral design, and he told Scott that it symbolized giving Dwight Howard his flowers.
“It’s big for him, it’s big for his family, it’s big for the ‘Big Man Alliance,’ of which I am the reigning president. It’s big, I’m happy for him,” O’Neal said. “It wasn’t that we had a problem. You know my leadership style, I learned it from you. I’m hard on guys to motivate them. Some people can take it, some people can’t. But when we met I told him, it’s never hard feelings, I just did that to make him angry. Whenever I made him angry, he played well.”
During the 2021-22 season when the NBA selected its 75th Anniversary Team, Howard’s name was conspicuously absent. It led to debates as to whether or not the big man and former lottery pick was indeed worthy of the Hall of Fame. But just based of his Orlando Magic resume alone, he was a fitting choice for the Hall.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, Howard transformed the Magic into a perennial playoff and Finals contender. He led the Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals, a place the franchise had not been since O’Neal took them there in 1995.
That season, Howard won his first Defensive Player of the Year Award, was selected to the All-NBA First Team, All-Defensive First Team, and finished fourth in the MVP voting.
During the Magic’s run to the 2009 Finals, Howard averaged 20.3 points, 15.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.6 blocked shots while shooting 60.1 percent from the field. An eight-time All-Star, Howard would win two more DPOY awards, and he finally got his championship ring with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.
