"They brought a lot of flare" - Dwight Howard shares his pick for better duo than Shaquille O'Neal & Penny Hardaway
NBA veteran Dwight Howard has been involved in a bitter spat with Shaquille O'Neal for quite some time now. Over the years, O'Neal has been critical of Howard, sparking a bit of tension between the two. Despite that, Dwight Howard recently named the duo of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant as the best duo in NBA history.
During a recent episode of his Above The Rim podcast, Dwight Howard tapped O'Neal and Bryant as the greatest duo of all time. While one of Howard's co-hosts named the duo of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the best, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year didn't waiver with his pick.
As he explained, while the Johnson-Jabbar duo was dominant, his pick for the best duo of all time is Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. In addition, Dwight Howard also stated when he was a kid, he was a fan of Penny Hardaway.
When O'Neal left the Orlando Magic and joined the LA Lakers, Dwight Howard was blown away by the Shaq and Kobe duo.
"I like Kobe and Shaq because they brought a lot of flair to the big and the guard duo. They made it popular. The one two punch. ... Growing up, I really never watched Shaq. I was a Penny fan. I was a Penny fan. Cause he had the commercials with little Penny. ...
"So I loved that little duo. And then when I first started seeing the Shaq and Kobe duo for real, was the 76ers versus the Lakers in the finals."
"We were the greatest 1-2 punch. Ever" - Back in 2009, Shaquille O'Neal dubbed he and Kobe Bryant the best duo ever, just like Dwight Howard stated
In the later stages of their time together in LA, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were at odds with one another. Bryant felt as though O'Neal would enter into training camp out of shape and wasn't giving 100% of himself to training.
On the flip side, O'Neal wasn't happy with Bryant's selfish playstyle, creating some friction that ultimately resulted in a split. Although the pair parted ways under less-than-ideal circumstances until their famous sitdown in 2018, in 2009, O'Neal dubbed them the greatest duo of all time.
At the time, Bryant of course was still with the LA Lakers, however, O'Neal was playing in Phoenix, however, they reunited for the All-Star Game. After defeating the Eastern Conference 146-119, O'Neal spoke to media members about the chance to play together again for one night:
"It felt like old times. missed those times. We were the greatest 1-2 punch. Ever. Kobe's the best player in the league, so A+ on that side and A+ for being a great guy. He even let me take the trophy home for my boys, so I appreciate that."
Despite that, it wasn't until over a decade later when both men were retired that they sat down to clear the air. While their time together was filled with drama, and ended with O'Neal being traded, it's clear that their impact together on the court can never be denied.