Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard have had some beef for a while now. But the two attempted to put it behind them when Howard appeared on The Big Podcast with Shaq. It was a fun conversation with a lot of laughs between the two former Lakers centers, till one moment when their newfound friendship almost went off the rails.
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Adam Lefkoe asked Howard if he wanted to give a shout-out to anybody in the sports or entertainment world that he thought was up-and coming.
“Dwight, a person, an athlete, an actor, anybody that you think is on the rise right now, skyrocketing that you want to give a shout-out to?” Lefkoe asked. “Could be in the sports world, could be in the music world. Anything.”
After some thought, Howard came up an answer: “Uhhhh, man… Oh I been seeing her everywhere—Angel Reese. She been everywhere.”
“That’s Shaq’s girl,” Lefkoe replied.
In a vacuum, Reese’s name makes sense here. She broke the WNBA single-season record for rebounds in her rookie year. And she seems to be everywhere in the marketing space, with sponsorship deals from McDonald’s to Reese’s Pieces. She also has a signature Reebok shoe set to debut in 2026.
Howard was the wrong one to bring up Reese’s name, though, especially after a clip in which he made fun of the former LSU Tiger during a pickup game went viral last year.
Howard shouted out, “Angel Reese!” after a player on his team missed multiple close-range shots and got his own rebounds. It was a knock on Reese, who has a propensity for doing the same thing, which hurts her shooting stats but inflates her rebound numbers.
Shaq quickly admonished Howard by saying, “Watch out! Watch out! Yeah, hey, watch out!” And the two laughed because they both knew why.
Dwight Howard calling this the Angel Reese is crazy pic.twitter.com/TGNXotw7UI
— SSN Jay-O (@Jay_3shifty) September 2, 2024
Howard knew he stepped in it the second Reese’s name came out of his mouth, as Shaq has spoken before about how highly he thinks of her and her game. “He right, though,” Howard said, laughing. “I shouldn’t have said that one.”
Shaq’s relationship with Reese
Reese has called Shaq a father figure and a mentor before. However, the internet came to her defense late last year after Shaq made some weird and borderline inappropriate comments during an appearance on her podcast.
Shaq has been a vocal supporter of Reese since her days at LSU, but he definitely crossed a line when he commented on her “little-a** shorts” multiple times during the podcast, a move that she definitely didn’t seem to be a fan of.
Reese is only 22, but she’s already seen it all in her young career. She’s won a national championship, then been painted as a villain due to her rivalry with Caitlin Clark. She’s been praised as one of the best young players in the WNBA, but then has to endure jabs like the one Howard threw at her.
If there’s something to be learned from this whole situation, it’s that maybe we should treat our female athletes (and females in general, honestly) a little better. The WNBA and women’s college basketball have seen their popularity soar thanks to exciting young players like Reese, and nobody should be tearing them down or demeaning them. When it comes from men, especially, it’s really not a good look.
