“That pissed Shaq off”: Penny Hardaway gets candid about how Orlando Magic fans lured Shaquille O'Neal towards Lakers
Penny Hardaway discussed the factors that led to the end of his partnership with Shaquille O'Neal in 1996. At the time, Shaq was in negotiation with the Orlando Magic's office for his extension. Even though the franchise did not meet the 7-foot-1 center's expectations of a max contract, Hardaway believes that O'Neal's exit was the result of other factors in play.
Hardaway said on the 'Knuckleheads podcast' that young fans and inexperienced beat writers held O'Neal's free throw struggles against his desire for a max contract, eventually forcing the big man to consider moving on.
"That was the summer that we had the Dream Team and we were practicing in Orlando, at Disney World, that's where our practice facility was," Penny Hardaway said on the Knuckleheads podcast (52:40). "We met there and just was practicing and the articles I was reading in the paper.
"Bro, we had young fans who didn't know any better, we had immature beat writers that were just kind of ragging on Shaq because he couldn't make free throws. So, they was like, 'We don't think Shaq deserves the money that he's saying that he deserves because he can't make free throws in the clutch, why would you pay somebody that much money,' and I'm like, 'Are y'all kidding me? Y'all got to chill,' and that piss Shaq off."
Penny Hardaway claimed that the Los Angeles Lakers and Jerry West realized how underappreciated Shaquille O'Neal was with the Magic, allowing them to lure the big man to the City of Angels.
Penny Hardaway reveals how it was leading the Magic without Shaquille O'Neal
The Memphis Tigers' coach hilariously summarized the first season playing without his frontcourt partner by joking that even the doorknobs in the arena felt like they were breaking off for no reason.
With that, Penny Hardaway revealed that playing without Shaquille O'Neal felt like the Magic were dismantled from a championship-caliber roster to a newly formed expansion team.
"Hey, we went straight back to where we started bro, it was like an expansion team all over again," Hardaway said (54:50). It was like, damn bro, we went from the Beatles to just being just some dude that was trying to make it like we trying to give you our mixtape, it went that bad though it went bad."
In its last year with Shaquille O'Neal, the Orlando Magic recorded a 60-22 regular season record and made an NBA Eastern Conference Finals appearance. In its first year without Shaq, the franchise went on a 45-37 season run and lost to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.