Dwight Howard fires back at Shaquille O'Neal’s beef with savage 1-emoji retort
The feud between Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard is not coming down anytime soon. Two of the greatest big men have been getting back at each other on social media. Recently, Howard reacted to Shaq's comment made about him on Twitter.
In a recent episode of "The Big Pod", Shaquille O'Neal was joined by former Sixth Man of The Year Jamal Crawford. In a conversation alluding to a wider narrative that O’Neal doesn't like Howard, Shaq said he just wanted to do better in his basketball career.
"All I said about the young fella was, 'He needs to average 28 & 15.' I don’t know how it got to 'He don’t like me!'” Shaq said.
Howard caught the post by NBA Central on X. He reacted to the post with a cap emoji.
The feud between Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard has been going on for a long time. It traces back to the time when Howard claimed himself “Superman” a title Shaquille O'Neal has reserved for himself.
Shaq also made fun of Howard after he put out an emotional video when he won his first and only championship in 2020.
However, in the same episode, Shaq also said that the reason he has been mentioning Howard for a long time is because he respects him.
Shaquille O'Neal says he has respect for Dwight Howard
Shaquille O'Neal earlier appeared on the "From the Point" podcast hosted by Atlanta Hawks player Trae Young.
During the podcast, Shaq revealed that any time he has thrown criticism at Howard or spoken about him, it is because he indeed cares about him.
“If I mention your name, it means I love you and I respect you. I used to love Dwight; he did something I couldn’t do. I wish I could jump that high," O'Neal said.
"I love Dwight Howard – a lot of people don’t know that. This is my first time saying that.”
The comment made by Shaq caught the attention of former Defensive Player of The Year’s attention. Howard reacted to the post, saying that they should put an end to the beef between them like adults.
"I never had a problem with you so can we finally end this as adults," Howard tweeted.
Howard has not been playing in the NBA since his stint with the Lakers in the 2021–22 season. Howard briefly played in the Philippines and once hilariously threatened Team USA to select him or else he would play for the Philippines in the 2024 Olympics.
He is currently playing for the Mets de Guaynabo in Puerto Rico in the Baloncesto Superior National League.