Dwight Howard reveals how he ended 20-year feud with Shaquille O’Neal

Dwight Howard recently opened up about how he finally ended his long-standing feud with Shaquille O’Neal. The former NBA rivals had a private conversation in Orlando, where they cleared the air after years of public jabs and misunderstandings.

Credit AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying – Scanpix

After nearly two decades of tension, Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal have finally buried the hatchet.

The two former NBA stars had been locked in a drawn-out public beef that began in the late 2000s, mostly centered around comparisons between their careers, playing styles, and personalities.

Shaq often criticized Howard for everything from taking the nickname “Superman” to not living up to the expectations of being a dominant big man. The back-and-forth played out publicly for years through media appearances, interviews, and social media jabs.

But according to Howard, the long-standing drama is finally over.

“I was like, ‘I’m tired of the going back and forth on the internet or text message. I want to see him in person.’ Like, this back-and-forth has got to stop—whatever it is,” Howard said on the PBD podcast.

“So, when I got inducted into the Magic Hall of Fame, I saw him in—where were we at—Orlando, at this restaurant. I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to go over there and talk to him.’ This was just a couple of months ago. Very recent.”

The meeting was spontaneous but productive. After years of animosity, the two former Los Angeles Lakers big men finally had a real conversation.

“So I walked up and said, ‘Hey, Shaq, what’s going on?’ He said, ‘What’s up, dawg? We gotta sit down. Let’s talk.’ I said, ‘Let’s go.’ We sat down—about thirty minutes. Cleared some things up,” Howard continued.

“He apologized—he said if I ever felt like he was hating or anything like that, that’s not who he is. He wasn’t trying to hate—he was trying to motivate me.”

Howard, now retired, shared how the public nature of their rivalry allowed outsiders to fuel the narrative, making it harder to reconcile.

“And I told him, ‘If that’s what it was, I think the best way to do it would’ve been to come talk to me behind closed doors instead of saying things publicly. Now you’ve given other people an opportunity to chime in. And now you’ve got people on the outside messing up a relationship they don’t even know about. We could’ve had this squashed a long time ago. But let’s do it now. Let’s get this out.’”

“But it took—if this was a couple of months ago—it took twenty years to have this conversation. I had to stop playing. I couldn’t do it anymore,” Howard concluded.