Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban has been in the news the last few weeks for his thoughts about the 2006 NBA Finals, saying how he’ll go to the grave with the thought of that series being stolen from the Mavs. It was a poorly officiated series, to say the least, but they’re not going to reverse the outcome 20 years later.

Cuban also recently made a comment about the starting center on that team, Shaquille O’Neal, saying on the “Road Trippin'” podcast that “Back in the day, I used to send tapes on Shaq’s [free throw routine]. They started calling it, and he had to fix his free throws.”

O’Neal responded by commenting on Instagram, “Didn’t work in the 2006 Finals, did it?” As per usual, Cuban had his own response.

It was a little odd for O’Neal to brag about that series, considering he averaged just 13.7 PPG and shot a horrific 14/48 (29.2%) from the free-throw line. It was no series to write home about, but it did get O’Neal his fourth and final ring, even if it was clear that it was the end of his prime.

Cuban made sure to say in the comments, “You know I still [heart emoji] you,” making it clear that this was all in good fun.

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Cuban and O’Neal are friends off the court, and it’s been revealed on numerous occasions that the Mavericks tried to trade for the big man.

Before he was traded to the Miami Heat, O’Neal put in his autobiography that the Mavericks were the other team in the mix. “I always respected Dirk Nowitzki‘s game…[In 2004] it came down to two teams—Miami and Dallas. Mark Cuban flew in and sat down with us, then he went back to the Lakers and said he’d trade anybody for me except Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk was his guy.”

A frontcourt of Shaquille O’Neal and Dirk Nowitzki would have been a fascinating one to watch, as O’Neal still had a few good years as a dominant physical force, and Nowitzki had blossomed into an NBA superstar as a jump-shooting seven-footer.

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