Shaquille O’Neal Brutally Shuts Down Dwight Howard’s Invite to Fight, Blames His Lack of Championships

To no one’s surprise, Shaquille O’Neal isn’t the biggest Dwight Howard fan. His beef with the fellow Orlando star has continued for decades. O’Neal in the past claimed it started after Howard tried to use the ‘Superman Moniker.’ But now that both their NBA careers are over, the animosity should have logically ended.

But their latest interaction on X proves otherwise. After the conclusion of the Jake Paul v. Mike Tyson fight, a couple of days ago, Howard took to his Twitter account to jokingly call out Shaq. The Paul-Tyson fight was universally viewed as a cash grab for both boxers, and Howard joked about him and Shaq making money too. He tweeted out,

“Shaq wassup let’s make bread.”

Shaq wassup 🥊 let’s make bread 😂

— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) November 16, 2024

Based on his choice of emojis, it was pretty clear Howard was only trying to amuse his fans and O’Neal. But Shaq did not take to the tweet lightly and came back with a brutal refusal.

The 7ft 1″ legend informed Dwight Howard only people with multiple championships could get in the ring with him. He then brought up Rob Gronkowski, who has been seen with O’Neal on multiple occasions in the past few years, as the optimal opponent.

To top it all off, he seemingly conceded his title of ‘Superman’ to Howard, a fight Shaq had refused to give up on for decades.

“Gotta have more than one ring to get in the ring with me, I’ll stick with a real champion like @RobGronkowski, and you can have the Superman belt, all yours buddy,”

Gotta have more than one ring to get in the ring with me, I’ll stick with a real champion like @RobGronkowski, and you can have the Superman belt, all yours buddy,

— SHAQ (@SHAQ) November 18, 2024

Unlike Shaq, Howard stuck with his joking attitude and clapped back, implying that the 3x Finals MVP was ducking him. He claimed to have been unaware of any official rulebook that laid out requirements to challenge Shaq to a fight.

“my bad I didn’t read the rulebook”

my bad I didn’t read the rulebook 🦆 https://t.co/BBNKriT5yR

— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) November 18, 2024

Perhaps Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard, like Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson, will make up someday in the future. But then again, the duo never had any kindling of friendship in the first place. And after all the jibes O’Neal has taken on the player he shares a nickname with, it is highly unlikely things will ever mend.