Shaquille O’Neal has had the pleasure of playing with some pretty superb talent over the years. From Penny Hardaway to Kobe Bryant, to Dwyane Wade, he has seen success in many different ways, alongside many different people.
But perhaps his most seamless partnership came during the later stages of his career when he joined forces with a young DWade in South Beach. According to O’Neal, the tone was set early on, and it helped ensure a smooth partnership all the way through.
“When I got to DWade, I was like ‘I know you heard all the stories, it’s your team.’ What I should have done in L.A. now that I’m thinking about it.
So, we not gonna have any problems. ‘You the man, you the CEO, I’ll be the consultant. Me and you ain’t gonna have no problems, you the man, take as many shots as you want.’ And we never had problems…”
Indeed, the Shaq/Wade duo was pretty epic. Not only did they dominate throughout the regular season, they capped it off with a Championship in 2006, beating the Dallas Mavericks 4-2 in the Finals.
At that point, it’s fair to assume O’Neal had learned a thing or two from his experience with Kobe and was determined not to make the same mistakes.
Looking back now, it seemed to have worked out for the better.
