The Miami Heat will retire Shaquille O’Neal’s No. 32 jersey in a special halftime ceremony on December 22nd at AmericanAirlines Arena when the Heat take on the Los Angeles Lakers.
O’Neal’s career spanned 19 seasons as he accumulated four NBA Championships, three NBA Finals MVP’s, 15 All-Star selections, three All-Star MVP’s, a regular season NBA MVP, a NBA Rookie of the Year award and a gold medal with Team USA while being named to 14 All-NBA teams and three NBA All-Defensive teams. O’Neal appeared in 1,207 career regular season NBA games (1,197 starts) and averaged 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.26 blocks and 34.7 minutes while shooting 58.2 percent from the field. His professional career ranks among the best in NBA historywith 28,596 points (seventh), 2,732 blocks (eighth) and 13,099 rebounds (14th).
O’Neal, who was originally acquired by the HEAT from the Lakers in a trade on July 14, 2004 and re-signed as a free agent on August 2, 2005, played three and a half seasons in Miami, helping the HEAT capture their first NBA championship in 2006.