Shaquille O’Neal has been part of quite a few teams in the NBA, and most had multiple star-caliber players. Whether it was the franchise that drafted him in the Orlando Magic, the famous three-peat with the Los Angeles Lakers, or his stint with the Miami Heat. There was always someone who was giving Shaq a tough fight to be the face of the team. All of us are well aware of Shaq’s fall-out with Kobe Bryant owing to ego issues, however, not many of us know about his contentions with his Orlando Magic teammate – Penny Hardaway.
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Shaquille O’Neal was drafted by the Orlando Magic in 1992 and a year later the franchise drafted Penny Hardaway. Both the players went on to have a Hall of Fame career but did not achieve much success as teammates. Though the Magic was a young talented team, a possible reason for them not achieving success is because of the male egos between their star players.
In 2011, Shaq revealed the events that took place in his book – ‘Shaq Uncut: My Story‘. The 1992 1st draft pick revealed that he helped Hardaway in his contract negotiations, as he rightly deserved so. However, when Shaq was negotiating, his contract, he received no support from his teammate and the reason was surprising.
“So he finally gets his(contract), but then when it’s time for my new deal at the end of the year, Penny is nowhere to be found. I find out that he wants to make sure he’s the highest-paid player on our team. He’s telling people in the front office, ‘This is my team. It’s a guard’s league now.'”
In 1993, Hardaway was offered an entry-level contract worth $45.2 million over 13 years, as per Spotrac. One year later, the player exercised his Early Termination Option and re-negotiated a $72 million contract over 9 years. Shaq was also nearing the end of his 4 year – $17.4 million contract and was up for an extension at that time.
“I can’t believe it. Craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Because I knew Penny was kinda soft and he’d be screwed if he wasn’t playing with me. I could take the heat. I could handle the pressure. He wasn’t wired like that.”
The four-time NBA champion felt betrayed by the actions of his teammates and knew the team would go as far as he would take them, despite what Hardaway believed. In 1996, the Hall of Fame player left the organization to join the Los Angeles Lakers. His trade was partly attributed to the extension Magic offered compared to the Lakers and partly to the betrayal from his teammate.
As far as the Magic are concerned, they are yet to find any success and in retrospect would feel like they dropped the ball when it came to one of the best players in the history of the NBA.
Orlando Magic’s performance after Shaquille O’Neal
As predicted by Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway could not lead the team to any playoff run without his services. Since his departure in 1996, Hardaway and the Orlando Magic lost in the first round of the 1997 playoffs and did not even make the playoffs in 1998. Following another disappointing first-round exit in 1999, Hardaway was traded to the Phoenix Suns.
It took the Magic franchise over a decade to make another deep playoff run. Since their first NBA Finals appearance in 1995 with Shaq, the franchise was left dead in the waters. Only after Dwight Howard’s acquisition did the team start to see any success.
It took them 14 years to reach the Finals again in 2009 but suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. It has been another 15 years to a trip to the NBA Finals for the franchise as they struggle to be relevant in the NBA.
