Dwight Howard, Who Was Hated on By Shaquille O’Neal for Stealing ‘Superman’ Title, Just “Wanted to Do Whatever Shaq Did”

Akash Murty | 08/11/2022
"Dwight Howard, you have a losing record in Taiwan!?": Shaquille O'Neal Continues Bullying the Former Lakers Star

One might not find him on the list of NBA’s Greatest-75 players of all-time, or in an NBA team right now, but Dwight Howard unarguably is a Future First Ballot Hall of Famer.

Coming in as the #1 overall pick in 2004, just a year after the most hyped NBA Draft ever, Howard did significantly great for a 6’10 old-school center coming into the league which was in transition to become a league of forwards and guards.

And throughout his career Shaquille O’Neal, for some reason, was his biggest hater while that man with all his heart just wanted to be like his Orlando predecessor from the 1992 NBA Draft.

Also read: “Don’t Play With Me, I Got 4 Degrees!”: Shaquille O’Neal Humbles Charles Barkley, Flexes His Knowledge in Spelling Bee

Dwight Howard never understood Shaquille O’Neal’s hatred towards him, he just wanted to be him

Howard vividly remembers why and how he wanted to dominate the league. And it was precisely how Shaquille O’Neal did it.

He told the story on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast while showing his disbelief at how Shaq has disrespected him over the years.

Dwight is right. The Superman title wasn’t Shaq’s to steal, so the hate was unnecessary and maybe just came off from the fact that O’Neal’s former teammate Kobe Bryant didn’t like Howard either.

Also read: Orlando Magic Big Paolo Banchero Joins a “lean and mean” Shaquille O’Neal on This Elusive List

After playing 18 years in the league, Dwight did most of the things Shaq did but failed to lead any of his team to a championship, as The Big Diesel did with the Lakers, leading them to three Championships while winning 3x Finals MVPs.

However, Howard did win a championship with the Lakers in 2020 when he was well past his prime but still was an important contributor to his team that was led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Dwight did become the next Shaq in Orlando

His Magic Career, although significantly longer than Shaq’s stay with the club did go in a similar way the way it did with O’Neal.

While in his prime, making multiple All-Star, All-NBA, All-Defensive First Teams, and winning three DPOYs, Howard led his Magic team to an NBA Finals in 2009 upsetting major contenders along the way like LeBron James’ Cavaliers.

But he lost the Finals to Kobe Bryant’s Lakers due to the big-game inexperience of his squad much like O’Neal’s Magic lost it to Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets in 1995.

Unlikeliest way to follow your idol, wasn’t it?

He did follow Shaq’s suit and joined teams that could offer him more money and a squad that needed just him to win championships. But too didn’t work out the way it did for O’Neal.

Also read: Despite having $400 million to his name, Shaquille O’Neal once hilariously couldn’t pay for donuts and soda

 

 

 

Post Edited By: Akash Murty
Dwight Howard Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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