What feud? Shaq agrees to walk Dwight Howard out at Hall of Fame induction: ‘That’s my guy’

Shaquille O’Neal, left, and Dwight Howard fight for position during a Feb. 21, 2010, game in Orlando. After years of feuding, O’Neal and Howard patched up their relationship.
(Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)

The Shaquille O’Neal-Dwight Howard beef appears to be over.

That’s a sentence that seemed destined to never be written as recently as January, when the years-long feud between the former NBA greats heated up yet again over comments Howard made on a podcast.

But last week, when Howard was revealed as a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2025, the former Orlando Magic star and three-time NBA defensive player of the year posted on social media that he wanted O’Neal and fellow Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Garnett to take part in his induction in September.

“I want KG, Shaq, and Kareem to walk me out,” Howard wrote.

On the most recent episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” which dropped Wednesday but was recorded last week, O’Neal was informed of Howard’s request by co-host Adam Lefkoe.

O’Neal didn’t hesitate with his response.

“I’ll do it,” he said. “I’ll be there.”

Lefkoe spoke for us all when he responded, “Really?”

“Of course,” O’Neal stated. “That’s my guy.”

Surprisingly, the discussion went in a different direction after that, although O’Neal shed a bit more light on the situation after a fan asked what was his favorite moment with former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant.

O’Neal first indicated that there were “a lot” of moments that could qualify, then launched into a story that started with the sentence, “So me and Dwight finally met up the other day.”

Lefkoe spoke for us all again when he asked, “Dwight Howard?”

O’Neal continued: “Yeah, Dwight Howard. In Orlando. And he asked me, ‘How come you don’t like me?’ And my response is, ‘What makes you think I don’t like you?’ He says, ‘Because you’re always hard on me.’ And then I say, ‘You don’t think I was hard on Kobe? You don’t think I was hard on [Dwyane Wade]?’ … This is what I do to get my guys to go to that next level.

“As a leader, sometimes you have to push your guys. Sometimes they like it, sometimes they don’t. But I know what it takes and I know what I needed. I needed another absolute dog with me. So every time I pissed Kobe off, you guys know and you guys seen the product.

“So once [Howard] understood that — I think he understood ‘cause he was like, ‘Man, you never called me.’ I was like, ‘Why would I call you? If I was your teammate, all the stuff I said on TV, that’s exactly what I would say to you in your face.’ So my favorite moment with Kobe — I have so many, but I loved just pissing him off so he’d just go crazy.”

Both O’Neal and Howard are former No. 1 overall picks by the Magic (O’Neal in 1992, Howard in 2004) and NBA champions with the Lakers (O’Neal in the 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons; Howard in 2019-20). O’Neal, now an analyst on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” has used that platform to criticize Howard.

Many feel the feud originated when Howard took over O’Neal’s Superman moniker early in his career, wearing a cape and the logo while winning the NBA’s slam dunk contest in 2008.

But now all seems well between the former foes, with Howard on Thursday expressing gratitude toward O’Neal on social media while also adding two other Hall of Famers — Dennis Rodman and Hakeem Olajuwon — to his list of players he wants to walk him onstage.

“Shaq appreciate you man,” Howard wrote, adding that “it will be an honor to have you KG, DROD, Hakeem and Kareem walk me into the Basketball Heavens.”

None of the other former players have publicly responded to Howard’s request yet.

Before the Hall of Fame ceremony in Springfield, Mass., Howard has another basketball season in him. This summer the 39-year-old will play for the LA Riot, one of eight teams in Ice Cube’s BIG3 three-on-three league.

O’Neal continued: “Yeah, Dwight Howard. In Orlando. And he asked me, ‘How come you don’t like me?’ And my response is, ‘What makes you think I don’t like you?’ He says, ‘Because you’re always hard on me.’ And then I say, ‘You don’t think I was hard on Kobe? You don’t think I was hard on [Dwyane Wade]?’ … This is what I do to get my guys to go to that next level.

“As a leader, sometimes you have to push your guys. Sometimes they like it, sometimes they don’t. But I know what it takes and I know what I needed. I needed another absolute dog with me. So every time I pissed Kobe off, you guys know and you guys seen the product.

“So once [Howard] understood that — I think he understood ‘cause he was like, ‘Man, you never called me.’ I was like, ‘Why would I call you? If I was your teammate, all the stuff I said on TV, that’s exactly what I would say to you in your face.’ So my favorite moment with Kobe — I have so many, but I loved just pissing him off so he’d just go crazy.”