What do you get for a man who literally has it all? If you’re the Miami Heat and you are honoring Shaquille O’Neal, the answer apparently is a replica 18-wheeler.
No seriously, that was the gift that the Heat gave to O’Neal as they retired his jersey on Thursday night with the Los Angeles Lakers in town.
https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/812131558694027264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It totally makes sense when you look back at how they welcomed Big Daddy Diesel to the city back in 2004. You know, with an actual 18-wheeler announcing his arrival along with one of the biggest celebrations we had ever witnessed to that point in time.
O’Neal would deliver on a promise to bring a championship to the Heat just three years later, helping the team to the 2006 NBA Championship, beating the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
Without O’Neal would there have been a three-headed monster of LeBron, Bosh and Wade in Miami? According to Heat president Pat Riley, the answer is no:
While O’Neal said he was on the “downslide of his career,” Riley noted that the team wouldn’t have won the title without him and that the star center “changed our franchise.”
The Heat also gave $50,000 to O’Neal’s charity, the Odessa Chambliss Quality of Life Fund, and a framed replica of the jersey banner that will hang inside the American Airlines Center.
Shaq was his usual funny self, hogging the spotlight as he should, with stories of his playing days and jokes galore.
He even had time to poke fun at, and make mention of, some of his teammates from his time in South Florida.
As yet another O’Neal jersey got retired, it is hard to think of another player in his generation who changed the face of not one, not two, but three different organizations upon his arrival. Shaq will forever be remembered in Orlando, Los Angeles, and Miami as one of the all-time greats to don each jersey.
All that is left is for the wound to completely heal in Orlando, as the Magic have yet to officially retire Shaq’s jersey. Will that happen soon? Who knows. After all, look how long it took them to finally place the big man in their Hall of Fame.
Perhaps the next step in fully closing the wound that was created with his departure for the Lakers is to get that jersey hanging in the rafters.
[ESPN]
