Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal will soon have his jersey hanging in the rafters of three different arenas.
The Orlando Magic announced Thursday they will retire O’Neal’s No. 32 jersey next month. He will be the first player in franchise history to have his jersey retired. Alex Martins, CEO of the Magic, made the announcement during TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’ pregame show, where O’Neal serves as an analyst.
‘The wait is over. On behalf of the DeVos family, myself and all of us at the Orlando Magic, we want to congratulate you as we make you the first jersey number retired in the history of the Orlando Magic,’ Martins said. ‘You had a great career here at the beginning of your career and we had some good times. You took us all the way to the NBA Finals and it’s finally time to put that number up in the rafters.’
O’Neal was drafted out of LSU by the Magic with the first overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. During four seasons with the Magic, O’Neal earned Rookie of the Year honors (1993) and led the Magic to the franchise’s first playoff appearance (1994) and first NBA Finals appearance (1995), where they were swept by the Houston Rockets, a team that featured his ‘Inside the NBA’ co-host Kenny Smith.
‘I would like to thank the DeVos family,’ O’Neal said. ‘It was a great four years there. I just wanted to come in and make a name for myself.’
In addition to his Magic jersey, O’Neal’s jersey was also retired by the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won three NBA titles alongside the late Kobe Bryant, and the Miami Heat, where he won a title with Dwyane Wade.
‘You are one of the few men that we’ve ever seen in sports play a game and love the game the right way, create your own path and do it your way,’ said Dennis Scott, O’Neal’s Magic teammate from 1992-96. ‘Now your number is retired in three different arenas. That’s something special.’
O’Neal’s ‘number one fan,’ his mom Dr. Lucille O’Neal, also sent a heartfelt tribute: ‘This award and recognition is well deserved.’
O’Neal’s jersey will be retired on Feb. 13 in a postgame celebration.
O’Neal’s co-hosts – Ernie Johnson, Charles Barley and Smith – doused the Hall of Famer in Orlando-colored confetti and congratulated him, but it wouldn’t be ‘Inside The NBA’ without a little jousting.
‘Why’s your mom so calm and cerebral,’ Smith began, before Barkley interjected: ‘And you’re such an (expletive).’