Shaquille O'Neal Apologizes to Penny Hardaway, Reveals Reason For Leaving Magic

Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway were one of the NBA's best duos in their tenure with the Orlando Magic.

Shaquille O'Neal during a post-game ceremony where the Orlando Magic retired his #32 jersey at the Kia Center. / Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

ORLANDO — The question of what if is a prominent one throughout all of sports.

For the Orlando Magic, no question is bigger than what could have been if Shaquille O'Neal re-signed with them rather than signing with the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency in 1996. Shaq and Penny Hardaway had become one of the NBA's best tandems and helped lead the Magic to the first three playoff appearances and the first NBA final in franchise history.

But for as quickly as they had turned Orlando into a bonafide contender in the Eastern Conference, their partnership ended. Ultimately, ego and money, two of the greatest dividers in any walk of life, broke up one of the best duos of the 1990s.

"I hate to think about ifs, but the only question that really is at the top of my ifs is how many would Shaq and Penny have won," Shaq said on his podcast, The Big Podcast with Shaq. "That question right there burns the most of any other question. The only question that burns me to my soul is this one."

"Now that I'm looking back, why did we break up?" Shaq said. "Egos. Other people were talking and that was the only time I broke the professional jealousy thing...When they said it wasn't my team anymore, it hurt a little bit. Since they said it wasn't my team, it's his team now, let's see what the other teams want to offer me."

The debate of who is the leader of a team with two established stars isn't an uncommon one. With the time that has passed since Shaq left for the Lakers, the Hall-of-Fame center apologized to Penny for how everything went down.

"I would like to take the time to apologize to you," Shaq said to Penny. "I probably said some stuff I shouldn't have said. If I ever did rub you the wrong way...I apologize.

Exactly how good were Shaq and Penny in their three seasons together? They each finished in the top 10 in MVP voting in the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons and made the All-NBA team. In that stretch, Orlando went 167-79, made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons and reached the NBA Finals in 1994-95 and Eastern Conference Finals in 1995-96, their last season together.

O'Neal, who was the first player in Magic history to have their number retired, averaged nearly 30 points and over 10 rebounds per game in two of his three seasons with Penny as his teammate. In their final two seasons together, Penny averaged over 20 points and five assists per game.

While Shaq's ego led to him leaving, he and Penny were seemingly always on the same page on the court together. Shaq noted how he and Penny never had a verbal exchange.

"Never had an argument," Shaq said. "Never had a fight. He never missed me on a pass. I tried to never miss him on a pass. The more I think about it, when I left, they tried to make it a me and him thing, it was more about ego thing. It didn't take me until years after [to realize] that."

For Penny, not getting into arguments with Shaq was easy because of how he viewed the opportunity at hand to be teammates with one of the most dominant centers in NBA history.

"I knew what I had in you," Penny said. "You were the best I ever played with. You pushed me to the highest level. Whatever I had in me, you brought more out every single night. You never settled for mediocrity. You were always about being the greatest and the best when you stepped in and when I stepped into the locker room. The reason never got into an argument is because I understood who I was playing with and I was always thinking about the opportunity more so than an obligation."

The what-if question is one that'll stand the test of time. For Orlando, Penny and Shaq helped turn what was essentially a brand-new franchise into one that was among the Eastern Conference's elite for a brief stretch in the 90s.

Not staying together for more than three seasons, though, is something that'll burn both for Magic fans, Shaq and everyone who was a part of those teams.

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