Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway reunited in Orlando as the Magic retired O'Neal's jersey Tuesday.

The superstar tandem took the NBA by storm in the early 1990s, spending three seasons together with the Magic. O'Neal and Hardaway powered the Magic to an NBA Finals appearance in 1995 and a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1996.

Prior to O'Neal's jersey retirement ceremony, he publicly thanked Hardaway − now in his sixth season as coach of Memphis, his alma mater.

"I want to say thank you, brother. I know I always celebrated a lot, but I've never been selfish," said O'Neal. "A lot of my success comes from you, because you took care of me. You made me look good. So, I never got to tell you this, but I always wanted to tell you, thank you."

The Hall of Fame center, who played at LSU, has said numerous times how he became enamored with Hardaway's ability during the filming of "Blue Chips," a movie that starred Nick Nolte. O'Neal, who was drafted the year before Hardaway, told a group of people Tuesday how he lobbied hard with Magic front office personnel to draft the All-American guard.

"They said, 'Ah, we can't make any promises,' " O'Neal said. "So, when they didn't draft him and they draft Chris Webber, I tore my damn house up. And, then, (former Magic general manager) John (Gabriel) called me and said, 'Hey, watch this. We got Penny.' "

Hardaway appeared in multiple video clips posted on social media Tuesday. In them, he returned the love to O'Neal.

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"Yo, big fella, this is Penny, man," he said in a video recorded in Memphis. "I just want to say, from me to you, brotha, I love you. I thank you for everything that you did for me. Without you, I wouldn’t have been in Orlando originally to be able to play with you, man, and have my game go to another level, with the first-team All NBAs.

"Because of you, going to the Finals in my early career. Putting me on the map in the NBA. All those things, man, how much better you made me. I’m forever indebted and grateful to you. And congratulations on your jersey retirement. Only way to do it, man. Congrats.”

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shaq thanks former teammate Penny Hardaway: 'You made me look good'