Penny Hardaway and Shaquille ONeal looked destined to lead the Orlando Magic for years, but their partnership came to a sudden end in 1996.Hardaway has now opened up about just how painful Shaqs departure was, calling it the worst day of his life and revealing that ONeal never personally told him he was leaving for the Los Angeles Lakers.Worst day of my life, I aint gonna lie. I knew the magnitude of that, Hardaway said on The Draymond Green Show. But heres the thing that was so crazy: Shaq never told me he was leaving. All of the international media were in our interview with the entire team. Were on a panel, and theyre asking each one of us questions. And one guy goes, How does it feel not to have Shaq as a teammate? Im like, If that happens, then that will be devastating. Thats exactly what I said. They were like, No, hes about to sign a multi-year deal with the Lakers. I was like, If thats the case, then I wish him well. And then Shaq came to my room either that day or the next day, knocked on my door, and was like, Bro, Im sorry. I should have told you. I was done. It killed me.Hardaway also believes Los Angeles was perfectly positioned to convince ONeal to leave Orlando, with then-Lakers executive Jerry West understanding Shaqs ambitions away from basketball.Imma tell you what happened. All of the entertainers in LA, Jerry West was so smart, Hardaway added. He knew Shaq wanted to be in movies. Shaq went there, and they did everything. They threw everything at him. He forgot my name. They were like, What about Penny? He was like, Who? I was happy for him, but I knew what that meant to our franchise. You cant lose that.The breakup ended one of the NBAs most promising young partnerships. Shaq and Penny had already taken Orlando to its first NBA Finals and eliminated Michael Jordans Chicago Bulls along the way.READ MORE: Raptors Officially Retiring Kyle Lowrys No.7 Jersey in the Rafters
