Regular readers of our blog here at ShaqFu Radio know that the big man has nothing but good things to say about his first dynamic duo partner – Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway. On a recent podcast, Shaq put out even more good vibes for his former teammate.
Through his career, O’Neal has had the pleasure of playing with the biggest names of his NBA era. Guys like Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Steve Nash, and LeBron James.
Out of all these superstars, Shaq will often go back to the very start of his career in the Association, when he was the Number One draft pick of 1992. With their pick, the Orlando Magic scooped up O’Neal, who’d made a huge name for himself during his college career at LSU.
In the short time that followed in Orlando, Shaq developed a great relationship with Penny Hardaway, the first superstar teammate he had in his career. Penny and Shaq took the Orlando Magic to their first NBA Finals in 1995. The Magic was defeated by the Houston Rockets in the Finals, and the next year, Shaq made the move out west to join the Lakers.
Even after their teammate days were over, Shaq always had nothing but respect for Hardaway. He’s said that Penny was a combination of Kobe, LeBron, and D-Wade. Quite the props!
On a recent edition of The Pivot Podcast, Shaq continued to sing the praises of his old teammate. He said Hardaway was Kobe Bryant before the Los Angeles Lakers icon blossomed into a global superstar.
Just what does that mean? Well, Shaq talked about how – when he arrived in Orlando – Penny was already in full superstar mode, something that would take Kobe a couple of years to mature into.
Shaq: “I think if I/we didn’t have those egos, we could have definitely worked that out. Because I always tell people he was Kobe before Kobe. Penny Hardaway was a cold cat, he really was, he really was.”
“If Penny didn’t get hurt, he would have been one of the top 3 players in the history of the game… Took Kobe two, maybe two and a half years to get to that level. Penny came in, he was already like that. First-year he came, we went to the finals. Penny was cold!… People give me flak like that and say he couldn’t have turned out, but if he wouldn’t have gotten injured, he would definitely be up there, definitely.”
As Shaq pointed out, Hardaway may have had even more great years on the court, but he did have some nagging injury issues. It’s yet another case of “we’ll never know” what might have been.
As for Hardaway now, he’s the head basketball coach at his alma mater, the University of Memphis. Recently, there’s been some quiet talk about Shaq being interested in an ownership role with the Orlando Magic. The team is not up for sale, at least not yet. Still, might be interesting to see what could happen…