For years, Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal had been two of the most dominant big men in NBA history. But, they were also locked in one of the pettiest, longest-running beefs the league had ever seen.
From cryptic shade to flat-out roast sessions, the tension never cooled. Well, not until now. In a surprising, emotional twist that has fans doing a double-take, Howard recently opened up about a private conversation with O’Neal that ended it all, with an apology.
Howard Ends the Beef After O’Neal “Apologized”
It started, like many beefs in the modern era, with some trolling. O’Neal even mocked Howard back in 2016 with a photoshopped image saying, “There can only be 1 Superman !!! #ME.” That jab kicked off another chapter of an already tense rivalry.
But what followed next, nobody saw coming. Lucille O’Neal, Shaq’s mother and peacemaker extraordinaire, reportedly stepped in and told her son to apologize. “Mr. Dwight Howard, I owe you an apology. I will never hurt your feelings again,” O’Neal said publicly in 2022. Except that wasn’t quite the full stop.
The beef simmered quietly until 2025. That’s when the two giants crossed paths in, of all places, a restaurant in Orlando. Howard, recently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, was having dinner with his family when the restaurant’s owner revealed O’Neal was also in the building.
They met. They talked. And just like that, years of static melted away.
“Overall, he apologized,” Howard revealed in an interview with Daily Mail. “It was just a misunderstanding.” He added that what once was tension had turned into a brotherhood.
Dwight Howard says he approached Shaq at a restaurant in Orlando to squash their beef:
“Overall, he apologized, it was just a misunderstanding… When you talk it out, that's what two grown men supposed to do. And we are the biggest men in the world, Supermen. And it's no way… pic.twitter.com/t4z80eHh48
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops)
“And we are the biggest men in the world, Supermen,” Howard said. “And it’s no way that we shouldn’t be fighting crime together, instead of fighting each other.”
Howard and O’Neal: From Beef to Brotherhood, to Hall of Fame
Howard’s respect for O’Neal clearly never vanished. Even during the ugliest moments of the feud. And now, with that peace made, the Los Angeles Lakers legend is embracing the future.
It didn’t stop there, Howard even listed O’Neal as one of the legends he wanted to walk him out at the ceremony, along with Kevin Garnett and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. O’Neal’s response? “I’ll do it.” That’s all Howard needed to hear.
Shaq has agreed to walk @DwightHoward out at the Hall of Fame 👏
“That’s my guy” pic.twitter.com/4Obb0HzfCd
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq)
It’s been a rocky road between the two All-Star centers, filled with comparisons, egos, and misunderstandings. But with Howard now stepping into his Hall of Fame era and O’Neal backing him up, the era of shade seems to be officially over.
Maybe it really was Mama O’Neal who sealed the deal. Again.
