As a player, Shaquille O’Neal was an exceptional athlete of his kind. But as a personality, his extravagant lifestyle of luxury and exuberance fascinated everyone, precisely the way Shaq wanted it to be. During his playing days at the Orlando Magic, Shaq was paired with Penny Hardaway, with whom he consisted of immense firepower for his team’s NBA roster. However, earning millions from his endorsements and NBA contract, Shaq made it a point to challenge Penny Hardaway in buying expensive products. In his autobiography Shaq Uncut, The Big Aristotle revealed that he always competed to buy better and more expensive things than his teammates. This was a healthy competition of fun and displaying opulence against one another. However, Shaq’s relationship with Hardaway, and the Magic’s management, fractured after he was refused a $115,000,000 seven-year renewal contract.
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Shaquille O’Neal always wanted to be the team’s alpha, no matter where he played. This naturally led him to be one-up against Penny and the rest of the team in whichever way possible. However, with another player, Penny Hardaway, being offered a better contract, despite Shaq’s contribution, it was bound to hurt Diesel’s emotions and ego.
Shaquille O’Neal used to compete in buying things against Penny Hardaway
Shaquille O’Neal always wanted to be ‘The Man’ of whichever team he was a part of. That means if someone outdid him in buying something opulent and expensive, he would be one up against them by buying something way higher in value and price.
This competition would not just extend to expensive items. The players would compare themselves in getting girls, buying houses, or buying luxury cars. And in all of these categories, Shaq always wanted to be revered at the top.
That’s the game he played with Penny Hardaway and the rest of his Magic teammates, of course, in a spirit of healthy competition. Describing this experience, here is what Shaq wrote in his autobiography.
It went something like this. Penny would go out and buy a Ferrari, so I had to go out and a buy a nicer car. We were young and cocky, and we all wanted to be The Man in every category. Girls, cars, houses. I figured since I was single and had a lot of money and a lot of responsibility, I had to be The Man on the team. I’m a bit of a show-off, so if anyone tried to one-up me, I had to do something outlandish to respond to it.
While Shaq and Hardaway were having fun spending cash, a significant blow came in after Shaq’s final year of his rookie contract. After stellar performances throughout his four-year term, Shaq expected a 7-year extension for $115,000,000 from the Magic front office. But the management wasn’t very keen on retaining Shaq, as they cared about Penny Hardaway’s contract expiring the following season.
Shaq’s ego was further toiled after an opinion poll in Orlando Sentinel showed the city’s fans being ungrateful to his contributions. Naturally, Shaq looked for better options and chose Jerry West’s $121,000,000 offer to join the Lakers. Since then, the rest is history. A fractured relationship with the Magic motivated Shaq to win a three-peat with the Lakers and consecutive Finals MVPs.
Shaquille O’Neal buried all his grudges against Penny
Shaquille O’Neal is an avid Instagram user and posts anything he likes. Very recently, Shaq tried reminding his followers of Penny Hardaway’s greatness by sharing a story about the former Magic star on his IG story.
Shaquille O’Neal now regrets fighting over petty subjects and titles with Penny, which might have even cost them the 1995 NBA championship. An older Shaq is now a wiser Shaq who has learned to set aside his ego and forgive people with whom he has great memories.
