Dwight Howard explains how he ended his beef with Shaquille O'Neal

Published 8 hours ago• 2 minute read

. 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.”
Source: YouTube

Dwight Howard: “My dad was talking to Nike with my agent, and at the time, Nike said I didn’t have a personality—which was crazy. I think that’s why I ended up going with Adidas. Nike literally told my dad and my agent I didn’t have a personality. This was when I was 18 years old—right before coming out of high school. And they made no offers. I don’t even think they made an offer at that point. Later on, did they ever try to poach me from Adidas? No. I did have another shoe company I was with—it was called Peak. It’s a Chinese shoe company. They actually owe me a lot of money. But it’s a Chinese company, so like, if something happens in the States and you try to fight it in China, you’re not going to win that battle.” -via YouTube / June 21, 2025