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“For Him to Not Be in the Top 75…”: Shaquille O’Neal Just Gave $1 Million Man Dwight Howard His Flowers

Tonoy Sengupta
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"For Him to Not Be in the Top 75...": Shaquille O'Neal Just Gave $1 Million Man Dwight Howard His Flowers

Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t liked Dwight Howard for quite some time now. And as everyone that knows the story already realizes, the reason why couldn’t have been more childish, especially for a man that is 51 years old now. Really, it feels more like one of the spoilt children on the playground started fits about not wanting to share his toys.

To make a long story short, one of Shaq’s favorite nicknames during his time in the NBA, was ‘Superman’. In fact, the man got immaturely obsessed with being called the fictional character. So, when Dwight Howard did this, you can imagine how it went down.

Howard later tried saving the situation, saying that he was paying homage to his idol, O’Neal. But of course, things never really got better. And this slowly turned into a situation of Dwight trying to ignore Shaq, who just couldn’t stop unfairly roasting him.

But, it appears that Shaquille may finally have gotten a little spanking from mother, Lucille O’Neal. Because, the man recently found a clip of Stan Van Gundy praising Dwight Howard, calling his career far better than Anthony Davis’s so far. And it appears that the man may have just publicly agreed with it.

 

What is the clip in question here?

When it comes to all-time conversations, Dwight Howard often gets highly disrespected. And yes, his career wasn’t incredible for nearly as long as some other NBA greats, but neither was Shaquille O’Neal’s. So, what are we doing here?

Weirdly enough though, off-late everyone is starting to realize the worth of the man’s time in the NBA, something former NBA head coach Stan Van Gundy considers himself t be in in-line with. Here is what he had to say about the man’s greatness.

“The only 2 guys you could even talk about in his league at that time were LeBron (James), and Kobe (Bryant). He was, 3 straight years, the defensive player of the year, still getting you 20+ (points). For him to not be in the top 75, that was just the personality. Anthony Davis is great. But at the time they selected it (NBA Top 75 players ever), you’re selecting on the careers they had had up to that point, It’s not close!”

 

Stan Van Gundy has had beef with Dwight Howard in the past. Heck, they both had a problem in the middle of the latter’s prime. However, the man was man enough to not only give him props but actually be justifiably pushy about it all. And clearly, that had some sort of an effect on Shaquille O’Neal.

Shaquille O’Neal gives props to Dwight Howard

Shaquille O’Neal has often been allergic to giving Dwight Howard any kind of credit. But, as we hinted at before, it appears that the man has decided to grow up a little and give credit where credit is due. As proof of that, we have the screenshot in the tweet below.

There is no diss here about Howard playing in Taiwan now, or how he is earning just over $1 million annually now. It is just a silent repost, one that promotes the truth about the greatness of Dwight Howard, and one that many current and former athletes need to appreciate, After all, it is an example of how a sports career doesn’t give you the right to be an absolute child. Good going, Shaq!

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta

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Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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