Shaquille O’Neal was beyond excited to start a new chapter with the Phoenix Suns.
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal played the best basketball of his career while wearing the iconic Purple and Gold jersey for the Los Angeles Lakers.
During his eight-year stint with the Lakers, O’Neal helped the team win three NBA Championships and took home numerous individual accolades. However, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat in 2004.
Although O’Neal had started to show signs of slowing down, he still played a crucial role in winning the 2006 NBA Championship alongside Dwyane Wade. Shaq’s stint with the Heat came to an end on February 06, 2008.
After winning the fourth and final ring of his career in 2006, O’Neal started to decline at an alarming rate over the next two seasons.
Keeping that in mind, it wasn’t a surprise when the Heat traded a soon-to-be 36-year-old O’Neal to the Phoenix Suns in 2008. Upon joining the Suns, O’Neal had a strong message for his fans.
“I’m very excited to be here. I just want to fit in with a damn good team. I’m just here to make everyone else better,” the 4x NBA Champ claimed, via UPI.com.
He added: “I wanted it to happen because I was coming to a fabulous team. Helping them get to the next level will be exciting.”
Getting traded to a different team in the middle of the season is never easy, especially for a player in his mid-30s.
Despite that, O’Neal showed great confidence in his desire to help the Suns get to the next level.
While O’Neal wanted to help the Suns improve, little did he know that getting traded to Phoenix was the beginning of the end for the once-dominant force.
Prior to trading for the Diesel, the Suns had made two conference finals and one conference semis in the last three years.
However, with Shaq on the team, the Suns faced a first-round exit against the San Antonio Spurs during the 2008 NBA Playoffs.
To make things worse, the Suns finished as the ninth seed in the loaded West the next season as they missed the playoffs. That led to O’Neal’s departure from Phoenix.
An out-of-prime Shaq only lasted two more years in the NBA as he played one season each with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics before announcing his retirement in 2011.
