He didn’t stick up for me the way I stuck up for him” – Shaq admits his hostility for Penny Hardaway started when he didn’t get support during contract negotiations

Shaquille O’Neal revealed how contract negotiations created a rift with Penny Hardaway, leading to his departure from the Orlando Magic in 1996.

The Orlando Magic never planned to select Penny Hardaway. Their original target in the 1993 NBA Draft was Chris Webber, a dominant power forward who seemed like the perfect frontcourt partner for Shaquille O’Neal.

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However, Hardaway impressed during pre-draft workouts, and after some convincing from O’Neal himself, Orlando pulled off a draft-night trade to bring in the versatile guard. It turned out to be a franchise-altering decision.

O’Neal’s two cents on his relationship with Penny

O’Neal had no problems with Hardaway on the court. The two quickly became one of the NBA’s most exciting duos. They worked in sync, feeding off each other’s strengths. But behind the scenes, the business side of basketball created friction. When O’Neal’s contract was up for renewal, he felt the Magic weren’t entirely valuing him.

“I think our only problem around contract time was miscommunication,” O’Neal said, reflecting on the moment tensions between him and the Magic began simmering. “We were close, never had an argument, never had a fight. It’s just that when I was re-negotiating, I felt that he didn’t stick up for me the way I stuck up for him. So when it was time for me to get my new money, nobody was around so I was like, ‘Okay, time to do something different.”

By their second season together, the superstar tandem had led Orlando to the 1995 NBA Finals, dethroning the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls along the way. Their chemistry was undeniable — Hardaway’s playmaking and perimeter skills perfectly complemented O’Neal’s dominance in the paint. The Magic had their foundation for a championship-winning team.

But just as fast as they rose, things fell apart. Contract negotiations in the summer of 1996 fractured the relationship between O’Neal and the organization and planted the seed for rising conflict with Hardaway. The Magic initially lowballed O’Neal with an $80 million offer, well below what a dominant 24-year-old center of his caliber commanded.

Meanwhile, the team’s superstar point guard had already secured a six-year, $70 million extension with the franchise, making him one of the highest-paid players at his position at the time. O’Neal expected some level of vocal support from his co-star but didn’t get it.

Changing teams

Feeling undervalued, the franchise cornerstone began to explore other options. Los Angeles Lakers general manager Jerry West saw an opportunity as negotiations stalled. With the NBA’s most gilded franchise in need of a superstar, the superstar executive, a former NBA superstar himself, made his move. During the 1996 Olympics, where O’Neal played for Team USA, West personally reached out with a game-changing offer: a seven-year, $120 million deal to become the face of the Lakers.

That was all O’Neal needed to hear. He wanted a fresh start. He packed his bags and left for L.A., where he would eventually win three straight championships with Kobe Bryant, the league’s next hot shot. Years later, O’Neal admitted that, in hindsight, he wished he had stayed in Orlando and tried to bring a championship there. But he had to leave for his personal interests.

“When you’re young and you got a whole bunch of stuff going on, you got a whole bunch of money coming in and you have that power,” O’Neal said. “Two things you can do is you can listen to people and you can make your own decisions. At that time, I was doing what I wanted to do. And I was doing it my way. And I wasn’t listening to anybody.”

O’Neal’s departure left Orlando scrambling. Without their dominant center, the team gradually declined, and Hardaway struggled with injuries. By 1999, the Magic had dismantled the once-promising squad, eventually trading their former top pick in the 1993 draft to the Phoenix Suns via trade.

Despite their brief fallout, O’Neal and Hardaway eventually reconciled. Both acknowledged that their split was more about business than personal differences.

Had Orlando handled negotiations differently and had Hardaway played a more active role in supporting O’Neal, the Magic might have kept one of the most electrifying duos in NBA history together in their prime. Instead, contract disputes ended a partnership that could have probably delivered multiple championships.