One of the highlights of Dwight Howard\u2019s long-awaited Hall of Fame induction was his longtime rival Shaquille O\u2019Neal presenting him with the honor on stage. Their reconciliation won the hearts of those in attendance and millions around the world, but how did they go from trading jabs to exchanging respectful words?<\/p>\n
The beef between the two big men started when Howard donned the \u2018Superman\u2019 gimmick from Shaq<\/a><\/strong> during the 2008 Dunk Contest. Thereafter, Shaq rarely missed a chance to criticize Howard\u2019s play, which is why many were surprised when he was chosen by DH to induct the former Orlando Magic star into the Hall of Fame. It has since become public knowledge that Shaq\u2019s tough approach was intended to push Howard to greatness.<\/p>\n Although Howard described it as a \u2018sibling rivalry,\u2019 there was a time when real animosity existed between the two. They reconciled, however over the past year before today\u2019s Hall of Fame ceremony at none other than a hookah lounge, one of Shaq\u2019s few vices.<\/p>\n Recalling when he got into the Magic<\/a> <\/strong>Hall of Fame, Howard<\/a> <\/strong>stated in an interview with Rachel Nichols, \u201cI ended up seeing Shaq at a hookah lounge\u2026 Just ran into Shaq out of nowhere, and I\u2019m like, this is crazy, so I\u2019m like, \u2018Man I\u2019m gonna go talk to him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we get a little room, we sit down, we have a conversation and it got better from there,\u201d the 2020 NBA champ continued<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Howard admitted that he and Shaq had this rivalry for years, but they had finally gotten to a point where they could simply get along. \u201cTo see now that it\u2019s no more, and that we can both move together in peace, and really fulfill the purpose that we supposed to together\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s room enough in this world for two supermen,\u201d Howard added. \u201cJust grateful that he\u2019s gonna be walking me out and it\u2019s a big honor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Shaq arrived at the Hall of Fame ceremony in style, dressed up in a dashing suit that had a floral print on it. Why? Because he simply wanted to give Howard his \u201cflowers\u201d<\/a> <\/strong>for the incredible career he\u2019s had. The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a><\/strong> legend said, \u201cI\u2019m finally giving him his flowers\u2026 It\u2019s big [moment] for him, it\u2019s big for his family, it\u2019s big for the big men alliance, of which I\u2019m the reigning President\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Neal is genuinely happy for Howard, showing that rivalries don\u2019t have to last forever. They had their issues and were distant for a time, but eventually realized the NBA community is better with both of them on the same page.<\/p>\n Shaq may not openly admit it, but he clearly recognizes that there\u2019s room for two \u2018Supermen.\u2019 It\u2019s something they just might have discussed in that Hookah lounge. And both Hall of Famers can certainly claim that title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the highlights of Dwight Howard\u2019s long-awaited Hall of Fame induction was his longtime rival Shaquille O\u2019Neal…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":207243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[112418,1260,46613,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-207242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-dwight-howard","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-shaquille-oneal","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115162243650493361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}