“I was thinking the next Magic and Kareem, that’s all I was thinking” - Shaquille O’Neal says he threatened to leave Orlando Magic if they didn’t get Penny Hardaway
Shaquille O’Neal spent his first four seasons in the NBA with the Orlando Magic after being selected first overall in the 1992 Draft.
In the 1993 Draft, O’Neal wanted the Magic to select guard Penny Hardaway and even threatened to leave the franchise if that didn’t happen.
On “The Pivot Podcast,” O’Neal revealed how he demanded the Orlando Magic to draft Hardaway. He said:
"I called and said, 'Hey man, y'all heard of Penny Hardaway?' 'Yeah, we might not be able to get him.' I said, 'Y'all need to get him, I don't know what you can do.' I said, 'Well, if y'all don't get him, when my deal is up in two years, I'm gonna be looking to do something else.' That's what I told them."
"I was thinking the next Magic and Kareem. That's all I was thinking. And you like playing with a guy that likes to look out for you. He was good enough to go for himself, but he was always looking out for me."
The Magic had the first overall pick of the 1993 Draft. However, instead of picking Hardaway, they went with Chris Webber, which frustrated O’Neal.
O'Neal's frustration only lasted 10 minutes as the Golden State Warriors selected Hardaway with the third pick. They then traded him and future draft picks to the Orlando Magic for Webber.
Shaq opened up about the three major regrets he has in life.
(via @thepivot) https://t.co/wgG9curDXo
The pairing of O’Neal and Hardaway was just as great as the former envisioned. They took the Magic to the NBA Finals in 1994-95 and the Eastern Conference Finals the following season.
Sadly, the duo would only play together for three seasons before O’Neal jumped ship to the Los Angeles Lakers after four years with the Orlando Magic.
Why Shaquille O’Neal wanted Penny Hardaway so bad
Penny Hardaway met Shaquille O’Neal on the set of the movie, Blue Chips. Hardaway was playing an extra at the time.
O’Neal loved how Hardaway passed the ball, and that is why he wanted him on his team.
O’Neal recounted the story of their first meeting in the podcast and said:
"So I shoot the movie Blue Chips, and I'm the type I don't really care about who's coming out and all that, so I don't even know who Penny was. So we playing this little skinny motherf****r. He's diming me up like if I put my hand like that, the ball's gonna be right there."
"So finally, I say, 'Yo man, who the fuck is that? Is he an actor?' So no man, that's Penny Hardaway. He went to Memphis State, you know projected to you know go high in the draft."
1995: Stockton and Malone vs. Penny and Shaq. This was an Orlando Magic team that went to the 1995 #NBA Finals and won 57 games. The @utahjazz won 60. Highlights from both games that season. #KSLSportsArchive #takenote twitter.com/esimper/status… https://t.co/m5lAOMsn2T
Hardaway's career was cut short by injury, but he and O’Neal remain one of the biggest what-ifs duo in NBA history.