Time for the latest post on Shaq-history. Today we’re setting the WayBack Machine for July 2004, as the big man was departing the Los Angeles Lakers. What happens next? Stay tuned…
For those up on their NBA and Shaq-related history, you know the big man ended up in Miami, playing with the Heat and a certain Dwyane Wade. But there was an in-between time – before the final decision was made to head to South Beach – that O’Neal considered other teams, too.
Not surprisingly, more than a few teams were interested in Shaq, and the big man was definitely interested in winning another Championship ring. Options were plentiful, and the phone was ringing. One of the people on the other end of the line was Vince Carter, then with the Toronto Raptors. A post from Yahoo Sports says Carter pushed hard to get O’Neal north of the border.
Still, Shaq ended up in Miami, as we all know. According to a post on Baskeball Network, Shaq ended up going to the Heat and Wade, because he saw something uniquely special about the south Florida team.
It is no secret that most – if not all – NBA franchises would have jumped at the chance of signing Shaq after his Laker days. While not in his absolute prime, O’Neal still had the size and overall dominance to make a big difference to any team’s playoff chances.
Seems Shaq picked the Heat after checking out Wade, and seeing what he felt was a great combination or mix of skills that reminded him of Penny Hardaway and Kobe Bryant.
Shaq has talked about how he believed his offensive threat would mean better shots for Dwyane Wade, even if they were double or triple-teamed. O’Neal explained his thinking to NBA.com:
“Cuz I saw something in D-Wade. I saw a mixture of Penny and Kobe, but he didn’t have no help with him. So you get me down there with him getting double or triple teamed and that’s going to open it up for him.”
At that point in his career, Shaq certainly knew he would be a supporting player for Wade. Across the season, O’Neal ended up sharing minutes with the likes of Alonzo Mourning, Udonis Haslem and James Posey. And after a slow start to the season, the team came together and the Heat won is all.