SUMMARY
- On account of the Magic's 35th anniversary, they chose to retire Shaquille O'Neal's jersey.
- Dwight Howard claims that Shaq fully deserves to be respected for his accomplishments with the team.
Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal are two of the greatest centers that ever played in the league. Surprisingly, both individuals happen to have been drafted by the Orlando Magic. The initial parts of their careers were with the Magic before they moved into other franchises. Right now, the Magic are doing fairly well besides facing an upsetting first-round exit.
Orlando recently the Magic retired O’Neal’s jersey. On account of the franchise’s 35th anniversary, the Magic decided to honor the occasion with their first-ever jersey retirement ceremony, and who better to do with than Shaq? Howard shared his thoughts on the Magic choosing Shaq over him during a recent interview on The OGs Podcast.
Shaquille O’Neal’s greatness deserves to be recognized
Dwight Howard initially spoke about his relationship with the Magic and how he wasn’t able to maintain one with them after he left in 2012. But he also acknowledged their recent success in the league by saying, “Orlando deserves you know, just all the great energy that they’ve been getting by these young players. They finally retired their first jersey in the history of the Orlando Magic, I’m mad.”
He added, “Hey, so I will say I have the utmost respect for Shaq. I’m super happy that the Magic have decided to retire his jersey. I think it’s about time. He’s done so much for the NBA, he’s done so much for Magic.” Both individuals earned multiple accolades with the team. O’Neal was a scoring champion during his time in Orlando. He also went on to win the 1993 Rookie of the Year title while being named an All-Star thrice as a Magic player.
Dwight Howards wants to finish his NBA career with the Orlando Magic
Dwight Howard spent eight seasons with the Magic after being drafted in 2004. Orlando believed that Howard was going to stay with the team forever, however, their lack of success left the 3x Defensive Player of the Year wanting more. So he eventually left Orlando to play alongside Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers. Unfortunately, the move wasn’t well received by the Orlando fan base or by the franchise based on what he said.
“It’s not as good as I want it to be. I think people are still upset over how things ended when I was there. And I would love to right those wrongs because you know, at the time of coming into the league I’m 18 years old and you know, I don’t know any better. And so I guess when I got out of there, it was just a lot of turmoil, a lot of hate, a lot of bitterness. I would love to change that around,” he said regarding his relationship with the Magic.
Howard has openly expressed his desire to return to the NBA. However, teams haven’t found much value in the veteran especially since he’s not as productive as he once was on the floor. But Howard was the only individual who managed to suppress Nikola Jokic during the 2020 Western Conference Finals. He was at the tail end of his career back then, but they were a valuable piece of the Lakers championship team.