Former NBA megastar Shaquille O’Neal has seldom pulled any punches when it comes to riffing about Dwight Howard.
That may be about to change.
Howard has signed with Shaq’s agent, Perry Rogers, and The Big Aristotle apparently had something to do with it, as D12 told USA Today‘s Sam Amick:
“(O’Neal) reached out to me (weeks ago) and felt like this could be something that could really help me in my future,” Howard, who — like O’Neal — played for the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers, told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. “We talked, more so about basketball. And then we started talking about agents and all that stuff.
“He said, ‘Hey, I’ve got somebody who really helped change my life and really sculptured the Shaq that you see today.’ He introduced me to Perry. Perry came down to Houston. We had a really good conversation. It was a decision I made on my own. That’s why I liked it, because I decided to make it. There wasn’t anybody who was around, anybody who could say, ‘Yo, what do you think?’ I went with what I felt was right (for) me.”
The entirety of Amick’s piece is worth a read, as it’s chock full of quotes from both big men, each of whom goes on to downplay their beef, chalking it up to general fabrication and Shaq’s belief that Howard is capable of taking his career to the next level.
That Howard switched agents here is the real story. He is expected to decline his player option for next season and enter unrestricted free agency this summer, at which point it’s likely he’ll leave the Houston Rockets, who, according to various reports at the time, tried trading him just about everywhere.
Does that agent flip all but guarantee Howard leaves Houston as he searches for the perfect fit for his skill set—the perfect place to play out the back end of his prime? It could, it could not. But, even before Howard’s decision to sign with Shaq’s guy, it appeared he, by choice or force, already had one foot out of the Rockets’ door.
