Dwight Howard has finally spoken out about his long-running feud with Shaquille O’Neal. Appearing on 7PM in Brooklyn, a Wave Sports + Entertainment Original, with Carmelo Anthony, the former NBA big man questioned why the tension between them has lasted so long.
Howard made it clear that he has never had a personal issue with O’Neal. “I’ve never had a conversation with this man to where it was something of disrespect,” he said. “I went back and forth with him on the internet one time, and as of recent, I was like, why are we still doing this?”
The conflict between the two centers dates back to Howard’s early days in Orlando when fans and media began referring to him as “Superman,” a nickname famously associated with O’Neal. However, Howard insisted he never tried to take that title for himself.
“The Superman for me came from all the things I was doing in the community,” Howard explained. “It came from me jumping over teammates, me doing stuff in the weight room… It wasn’t because I went around boasting about being Superman.”
Despite years of criticism from O’Neal, Howard remains puzzled by the hostility. “I don’t know where this came from,” he admitted. “There’s no way it could be anything else [besides hate].”
Howard believes the situation is rooted in personal insecurity. “When you got to speak on another man or female in any negative light, I feel like that’s insecurity,” he said.
The feud between Howard and O’Neal has been a recurring storyline for years, with O’Neal often downplaying Howard’s accomplishments. The two have traded jabs on social media and in interviews, with O’Neal repeatedly questioning Howard’s impact in the NBA.
