In the 1997 NBA season, one of the most coveted NBA stars suffered one of the worst injuries in sports history. Penny Hardaway, who was the icing to the Orlando Magic’s dynasty, was supposed to have been the potential Robin to Shaq. Yet this injury that Hardaway suffered tarnished one of the greatest NBA stories fans never got to see. One could only imagine the type of lobs Penny would deliver to Shaq.
For decades, sports fans have fantasized about what the Magic could have been in the mid-’90s if Penny never got injured. From championship runs to being a potential MVP candidate, we can only fantasize about the idea of a healthy Penny Hardaway and what he could have accomplished in his career.
Many NBA players have suffered injuries that tarnished their careers and their ceilings. These include Brandon Roy, Derrick Rose, Grant Hill, and Bill Walton, to name a few. However, what makes Penny different from those previously mentioned players is that he played in the ’90s and could have potentially dethroned Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. One of the aspects outlined in the “Last Dance” was that Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway managed to defeat the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in 1995. Although the Bulls were not 100%, the Magic was a relatively young team, with Horace Grant being one of the oldest significant players at 29 years-old. Furthermore, the Magic proceeded to make the NBA finals where they would be swept by a much more experienced Houston Rockets team. If the Orlando Magic were able to do something like this with a 22-year-old Shaquille O’Neal and a 23-year-old Penny Hardaway, one could only imagine what this team could have done if Penny didn’t get injured.
Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal had a chance to become the next best team in the NBA. However, if Penny Hardaway never got injured and if Shaquille O’Neal never left for the Lakers in 96, would the Orlando Magic have been a dynasty?
Even though the Orlando Magic defeated the Chicago Bulls in 1994-95 season and later made the NBA finals where they would lose to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets, the 1995-96 post-season would give the Magic their biggest test yet. The only reason why the Magic dethroned the Chicago Bulls in the 1994-95 season was that Michael Jordan was getting reacclimated in playing basketball at the elite level. Most NBA fans expected that Michael Jordan would come back and dominate the NBA. When he retired in 1993, Jordan left the game as an NBA champion and a first-ballot Hall of Famer. However, once Jordan reappeared to basketball stardom, he had to change his work-out routine from baseball to basketball, which was quite challenging. It was hard for Jordan to get to where he left off, yet he kept on fighting only to lose to Orlando in the second round of the playoffs. This fueled him in the following season as the Bulls not only played arguably their best season together but also broke history and had the greatest regular-season with the record of 72-10. No team was going to stop the Bulls in the 1995-96 season, which was indeed the most critical test for the Orlando Magic.
Despite the defeat in the NBA finals, the Magic entered the 1995-96 season with confidence and belief that they will win it all in the NBA finals. With the resurrection of the Chicago Bulls, Orlando would finish as the second seed in the Eastern Conference and would have a rematch against the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals! Unlike the previous season, the Bulls would sweep the Orlando Magic as Michael Jordan’s primary motivation was to defeat them in the playoffs. With the Magic in shock, the Bulls would proceed to make the NBA finals where they would defeat Gary Payton and the Seattle Supersonics in just six games!
The 1996-97 NBA season was supposed to have been an excellent season for the Orlando Magic. However, Shaquille O’Neal would shock the world and leave Penny Hardaway in just four years of playing together to join the Los Angeles Lakers. However, the Magic would be the ones at fault during the negotiation phase of Shaquille O’Neal’s contract. Instead of giving him the respect that he deserves and accepting his demands, the Magic would try to lowball him rather than highlighting his best moments and would expose him and his so-called “weaknesses.” Sure, Shaquille O’Neal is a lousy free-throw shooter; however, he was also a scoring champion, multiple time all-star, multiple time all-NBA player, an MVP candidate, and led the Magic to their first-ever finals appearance. His free-throw shooting means nothing compared to what he had already accomplished in just his fourth season in the NBA. The Magic would foolishly revoke all negotiations and, as a result, would let the Lakers sign him while the Magic were left with nothing other than Penny Hardaway and Horace Grant. If the Magic respected Shaquille O’Neal enough, they would have offered him the contract that he was looking for instead of lowballing him like a fool. Not only would this tarnish the potential dynasty in Orlando, but it would also tarnish the career of Penny Hardaway.
In the following season after Shaquille O’Neal’s departure, Penny Hardaway had the pressure of being the face of the Magic. Even though Penny was never a role player throughout his tenure in Orlando with Shaquille O’Neal, he was never the best player. Instead, Penny was the sidekick that distributed the ball while out-running his worthy adversaries. As a 6’7 point guard, he had an advantage against any other guard in the NBA by being freakishly taller than anyone else at his position. However, with great height comes great responsibility as well as consequences. At the beginning of the 1997-98 season, Penny Hardaway would suffer a season-ending knee injury that would keep him sidelined for the rest of his career. Rather than bouncing back like Dominque Wilkins when he tore his Achilles, Hardway would never go back to his all-star days. This injury would be the end of Penny Hardaway and the end of the Orlando Magic’s hope in building a dynasty. Even though they would make the playoffs in the 1998-99 season, they would lose in the first-round against the Philadelphia 76ers and would become a fringe playoff team with no chance in winning a championship. The potential dynasty of Penny and Shaq would officially die, and the management ruined arguably their best chance at winning a championship in the entire history of the organization!
The dominant force of Shaq would have been enough to compete for an NBA title. However, when you add the play-making ability and scoring of Penny Hardaway, one would assume that a prime Penny Hardaway and Shaq would have decimated the Eastern Conference and would have won multiple championships. With Shaq dominating in LA with Kobe Bryant, the same thing would have happened with Penny Hardaway. If the Orlando Magic didn’t lure Shaq away, Penny Hardway would have likely never got injured as he would have returned to his original role on the team with Shaq being the star and face of the franchise. If Shaq and Penny made the NBA finals at 22 and 23 years of age, they would have won numerous championships together as they didn’t even reach their primes! Penny Hardaway would have made many more all-star appearances and would also be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Shaquille O’Neal would have had an easier path to the NBA finals if he remained in the Eastern Conference; however, he would have most likely lost to Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs in 1999. Instead of joining Kobe Bryant to form one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history, the Magic would most likely be the best team in the NBA as Shaq would win more than on the MVP award. Furthermore, a team would have formed a superteam to go up against a prime Penny and Shaq but wouldn’t be enough as Shaq was the best player from 1999 to 2004. The Lakers would have had a lot of cap space to sign a second superstar but wouldn’t be enough to match the production and chemistry of Shaq and Penny.
In the end, Shaq and Penny would have been successful if the Orlando Magic didn’t give up so quickly. Rather than offering what Shaq initially wanted, the Magic ended up ruining a dynasty in the making and also tarnishing Penny Hardway’s career. Even though no one can take the blame for an injury, the Magic organization is what caused the injury considering that they gave up on their dynasty production. By giving up in getting Shaq also means that the Magic gave up in Penny Hardaway and the rest of the team. If Orlando didn’t do such a foolish act, the Magic would have multiple championships and would be regarded as one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history! The Magic’s dynasty would have started in 1997 and ended in 2004-06 range with Shaq slowly regressing as a player while Penny would have most likely followed the same path. Other teams such as the New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, and the Portland Trailblazers would have little to no chance against the Orlando Magic. Sacramento and San Antonio would be the Western Conference’s faces while a young Kobe would look to be an MVP candidate while also being paired up with another all-star calibre player. However, none of those teams would have stood a chance against a prime Shaq and Penny. With the Magic being potentially this good, what would Kobe Byant’s career end up looking like without Shaquille O’Neal?
