Shaquille O’Neal Expected 4 Championships From Dwight Howard When He Was at the Peak of His Career

Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard haven’t seen eye to eye for a long time now. Their feud began in 2008 when Shaq insulted Dwight for stealing(or at least trying to steal) his Superman moniker. However, three years later, in his autobiography, ‘Shaq Uncut’, the Lakers legend ‘seemingly’ expressed faith in Howard’s skills.

Well, at first it might seem so. “If he[Dwight Howard] doesn’t get four rings I’ll be disappointed in him”, Shaq had said in his book. But in a twisted way, it was actually Shaq taking another sly dig at Howard, by pointing out the lack of competition that Howard was against.

“Dwight Howard is by himself. If he doesn’t get four rings I’ll be disappointed in him. There’s no one for him to go up against. When I was playing I had Ewing in his prime, I had Rik Smits, Arvydas Sabonis, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo. I had Vlade Divac, Kevin Duckworth. I caught some of David Robinson. Ostertag. Guys with size. Now, I couldn’t name five centers.”

At the time, Dwight was by far the best big in the NBA. He had recently won three straight Defensive Player of the Year accolades from 2009 to 2011. But was Shaq right in his assessment that Howard’s era lacked ‘true, competitive big men’? It seems so.

‘The Big Diesel’ played in what is considered the ‘Golden Era’ for big men in the NBA. The center position was not only one of the deepest in the league, but it remained the most important. Dominant players at the time include Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing, among many more.

On the other hand, Shaq couldn’t see the same level of talent preventing Dwight from asserting his dominance over the league. The NBA witnessed an influx of big men following the release of Shaq’s book. Elite big men of the 2010s, such as Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, and Karl-Anthony Towns, entered the league following Dwight’s tenure with the Magic.

Howard failed to live up to the NBA legend’s expectations, or to his challenge, you can say. Howard’s only championship with the Lakers came in 2020. He was well past his prime, yet he still contributed significantly off the bench. However, he did not return to the Finals as a lead star after his stint with the Magic in 2009.

Shaq’s beef with Howard though persists

Following Mike Tyson’s bout with Jake Paul, Dwight suggested that the two should settle their differences in the boxing ring. However, O’Neal immediately shut the conversations down claiming Howard needs to “have more than one ring” to earn the privilege to fight him.

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

Decades have gone by, but Shaq is one to hold a grudge and it doesn’t seem like we have seen the final chapter of Howard vs Shaq yet.