“James Harden and Himself Could Be the Next Shaq and Kobe”: Shaquille O’Neal Slyly Ridicules Dwight Howard’s Take on Rockets’ Years

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal are among the most iconic duos in Lakers History, nay, NBA History. They played 8 seasons together from 1996 to 2004, and managed to get a three-peat during that time. When Dwight Howard signed with the Lakers in 2012, he thought he might get the same success with Kobe that Shaq did. Recently while on MATH HOFFA’s “My Expert Opinion Show,” Howard talked about how he had Kobe expectations from James Harden. Shaquille O’Neal saw the same and couldn’t help but share it on his stories.

Dwight Howard was drafted into the league in 2004, and is widely known as probably the second most dominant center of this century behind Shaquille O’Neal. However, Shaq hasn’t been very fond of this comparison. Even though he gave his flowers to Dwight recently, this time around, it looks like he’s back to mocking.

Shaquille O’Neal ridicules Dwight Howard about his James Harden and Kobe Bryant take

The NBA hasn’t seen a duo like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal since the Miami trade. However, Dwight Howard thought he could recreate the same with James Harden. On the episode of My Expert Opinion Show, Dwight said,

“When I saw James Harden, I looked at him like a younger version of Kobe. I don’t know why I was thinking that. No disrespect to James. I was thinking at that time, me and James could be like a new version of Kobe and Shaq, because he’s the young two-guard that’s coming up in the league, and I’m the older center that’s been dominating.”

The Instagram post sharing the same was captioned,

“Dwight Howard left the Lakers to go to the Rockets because he thought James Harden and Himself could be the Next Shaq and Kobe”

 

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A post shared by CWubb (@cwubb_)

Shaq saw the same, and we know for a fact that he did not agree with what Dwight said. Hence, sharing it on his story was his way of ridiculing how ridiculous this take was.

Shaquille O’Neal laughs off Dwight Howard’s Kobe-Shaq aspirations with James Harden pic.twitter.com/dysvv5geMg

— What are NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) August 6, 2023

It’s almost funny how it’s been 12 years since Shaq retired, yet he won’t stop going after Dwight Howard.

Why does Shaq keep hating on Dwight?

No one can really say when did Shaq’s dislike for Dwight start, but many believe it is around the time Howard used Shaq’s moniker, Superman. For the longest time, Shaq was the NBA’s Superman, and Howard using the title without even discussing didn’t sit right with O’Neal.

When Kevin Hart asked Howard about the ‘beef,’ this is what the former Lakers champion said,

“I never had an issue with Shaq..To be honest I really didn’t know a lot about Shaq as a young kid..My superman nickname, that came from Soulja Boy, I used to like do the dance and so I think the confusion is he thought that I was trying to take his nickname and be like him and stuff like that.”

Even though Shaq claims he doesn’t hate anyone, but we’d sure like to get his side of the story as well.