-Clued from AP—_
Now at years, and still standing at 7 feet 1 Inch tall, there seems to be no end in sight of honours, for American National Basketball (NBA) iconic players, Shaquille O’Neal, who recently added another father, to his already crowded hat of successes.
Big Shaq as he is fondly called by commentators, and fellow NBA players, as well as millions of his followers in the Americas and across the globe, had his legendary No. 32 shirt, worn at Orlando Magic put up, and retired.
He was Orlando’s first in many aspects. First No. 1 overall draft pick (1992), First player to make an NBA All-Star team in a Magic shirt. First rookie of the year. First player to make all-NBA selection; and sadly, the first big-time superstar to leave the franchise.
It was the very last aspect of his outstanding achievements, that many, including the player himself, figured might cost him this latest honour.
O’Neal said he never thought that the Magic would one day raise his jersey to the rafters of their arena, and retire it, a status that is normally given to mega stars, who showed extra ordinary loyalty to the franchise, on and off the courts.
But he was wrong, and on Tuesday night, the hierarchy at Orlando Magic retired O’Neal’s No. 32 jersey; and that amounted to another first for the team and its first superstar.
Most fans, stayed back for the post-game ceremony, even after the Magic had lost to Oklahoma City Thunder.
“You know, there’s an old saying: Never forget where you come from,” O’Neal said. “And my professional career started here. I’ve been living here mostly all my life. The fans have been hospitable. The people have been very, very hospitable. I never thought this day would happen.” he told AP.
The magic who were celebrating their 35th season, drafted O’Neal No. 1 overall in 1992, and had never before, retired a number for a player. But they decided their anniversary season was the right time to do so, and many of O’Neal’s former Orlando teammates were there on Tuesday night. The roll call includes Penny Hardaway, Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson, who O’Neal brought to the lectern at one point in the ceremony, telling him he should have been the first to get the jersey retirement from the Magic.
“There’s no one more deserving to be the first than Shaq,” Magic CEO Alex Martins said. “Shaq put the Orlando Magic on the map, and the foundation of his Hall of Fame career started right here in Orlando.”
O’Neal — who had his No. 34 shirt retired by the Los Angeles Lakers and No. 32 retired by the Miami Heat — is thus the third player to have his jersey retired by three franchises. He joined Wilt Chamberlain and Pete Maravich, who were the first couple to be bequeathed the honour.
Chamberlain’s No. 13 has been retired by the Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors and the LA Lakers. Maravich had No. 44 retired by the Atlanta Hawks and No. 7 retired by the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans — even though he never played for that franchise. His number is retired in New Orleans because he played there for the Jazz before joining LSU.
On his thoughts about the honour done to him on Tuesday night, O’Neal said; “it means that every franchise you played for, they enjoyed you. The fans enjoyed you. The people enjoyed you. They appreciated your hard work.”
In all, there are now eleven (11) former NBA star players — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Clyde Drexler, Julius Erving, Elvin Hayes, Bob Lanier, Moses Malone, Earl Monroe, Dikembe Mutombo, Oscar Robertson, Nate Thurmond and Charles Barkley — to have jerseys retired by two franchises for whom they played; and Barkley, like O’Neal is part of the award-winning cast of Turner Sports’ “Inside The NBA” program.
Many other players have been honored by multiple teams or in multiple ways. Bill Russell’s No. 6 is retired by Boston and, after the Hall of Famer’s death, was retired league-wide by Commissioner Adam Silver. Michael Jordan never played in Miami; his No. 23 is retired there. Kobe Bryant who died in a fetal helicopter crash about two years ago, had both of his numbers, 8 and 24, retired by the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Magic were 70-176 in their first three seasons, then got O’Neal and went 41-41 in his rookie year, 50-32 with the team’s first playoff appearance in his second season, 57-25 with a trip to the NBA Finals in 1994-95 and finally 60-22 — which still the franchise record for wins — and it occured in his fourth and final season with Orlando.
The ceremony had O’Neal seated adjacent to center court on a throne, one big enough to make the 7-footer seem small. The stories flowed — the one about O’Neal arriving in the city known for Walt Disney World wearing Mickey Mouse ears seemed to delight the crowd — and O’Neal savored them all.
The banner was hoisted amid a display of fireworks in a darkened arena, roughly an hour after the game ended.
“There’s no other place I would have wanted to start my career,” said O’Neal, whose words were often drowned out by cheers. “Orlando will always have a special place in my heart.”
O’Neal learned how to be a professional in Orlando. His first few months in the city, he said, were spent living in an airport hotel with his entire family. By the time Scott explained to him that he needed to buy a house, O’Neal said he had already spent as much as $900,000 on hotel bill.
He speaks with reverence about his time in Orlando, and now having gone through four jersey retirements — LSU also gave him the honor, along with the three NBA clubs — O’Neal made no secret of what this one meant.
“Truthfully speaking, this will probably be the most impressive one,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal left Orlando after the 1995-96 season for the Lakers, having played 295 regular-season games with the Magic. But he remains sixth on the team’s all-time scoring list — four of the five players ahead of him played at least twice as many games for Orlando — and third all-time in rebounds for the Magic.
“This is where it all started,” O’Neal said. And it’s where his number 32 shirt, will always hold sway.
At the Los Angeles Lakers, he won three NBA titles, and later spent time with the Miami Heat, where he winning a fourth title. Big Shaq also has stints with the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics before he retired in 2011.
Shaquille ended his NBA career with 15 All-Star selections, and is still sixth on the Magic’s all-time scoring list and third on their rebounds list. He averaged 27.2 points and 12.5 rebounds per game over his four seasons with the club, and was on one of just two teams in franchise history to make it to the NBA Finals.
His time with the Magic sparked what ended up being a Hall of Fame career for the 7-foot-1 center, who won four NBA titles and a league MVP award before he retired. O’Neal presently works as an analyst on TNT — he was on site to call the game for the network on Tuesday — and he’s launched what is arguably just as impressive of a career in media as he had on the court.
©️The Associated Press
