Wednesday, June 1st, 2011 at 3:14 pm  |  108 responses

Video: Shaq Announces Retirement

The Big Fella’s NBA career is over.

Assuming this is real, it appears Shaquille O’Neal’s long and illustrious NBA career is finished.

(H/T: The Basketball Jones)

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  • TheBarberShop

    Shaq’s career will never end.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    So long Shaq! You will definitely be missed.

  • http://slamonline.com henkenzo

    kenny got to gooo!
    ill need subtitles for inside the nba tho, when he is on, cant understand him….

  • Jose

    I just died a little inside and i don’t know if i will ever get it back. . . Go into the Broadcast booth Big Man

  • http://www.slamonline.com spit hot fiyah

    max please tell me u saw beverly hills bosh

  • http://sohh.com teamplayer65

    Shoulda retired last season. Thx for the years you gave us fans, Fatty. Sure gonna miss ya, you big goofy doofus.

  • http://sohh.com teamplayer65

    Now that he has all this free time, I hope he films the long awaited sequel to Kazaam.

  • Ovachicken

    The Big man of big men. RESPECT !

  • Tyrant56

    Go to espn u’ll still be rollin in dough. BOOK IT!

  • JTaylor21

    The most dominant player of the post MJ era along with TD.

  • doyouwantmore

    Even though you were essentially just a mercenary with no one real team, you will always be a Laker to me, which is not a good thing. Congratulations on being the second greatest big man of your era, Shaq. Go SPURS!

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    For the majority of the kids around here that only knew Shaq from his days in Phoenix and Boston and his last bit of relevance in Miami, do the research. Read some old archive material about the dude in his prime. Catch as much Youtube sh*t as you can. Shaq from 1993 to 2005 (with a little sprinkling of 2006 too)was a force of nature. Destructive in his beauty. A winner to the highest degree. Yeah, he was lazy. Yes, he was an awful free-throw shooter. But….he was dominant. An offensive beast. Would rebound handily when challenged. Was a slick passer for a guy his size. Had a great, natural feel for the game. He made All-Star games bearable. He altered the rulebook. He was….an ICON. And he will be sorely missed by those who remember what The Diesel was like…..not just old Shaq. Enjoy the rest of your days Big Fella and thanks for helping to make the Heat matter too.

  • r2j

    Shaq will be missed but IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!!

  • retrobat

    I agree w/you Eboy, but his departure from the Magic still leaves me a little bitter to this day. We were so close…

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    Lebron wasn’t the first.

  • MUBWAR

    lool at the 2 comments

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    One of the best players to ever play the game of basketball. It was a great run, big fella. Enjoy your time off.

  • http://www.bulls.com Rigo Gonzalez

    Co-sign E to the fullest.
    I still remember rooting for those Magic teams on the low when When MJ was busy playing baseball. The Bulls were still my heart and soul, but the Magic with Shaq, Penny, Dennis Scott, Horace Grant and Nick Anderson were sentimental favorites.
    I remember spending the summer of 2000 at my uncle’s home in LA, and watching the finals with my hardcore Lakers fan cousin when the Lakers with Shaq won it all.
    I remember when he was traded to Miami, thinking at the time that was the most lop-sided trade ever.
    I remember hating Shaq for like a week cause he almost punched Brad Miller’s head off.
    So many memories. I’ma miss dude.

  • http://www.twitter.com/gerardhimself Gerard Himself

    Good post Eboy, couldn’t agree more. I started following the NBA in’92, his first season, breaking the backboards in Phoenix and NJ as a rook, the Reebok commercial with Cap, Walton, Russell and Wilt was one of my favorites. Ah man, the last player of “my generation”… I’m old.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    Damn…this one hurts. One of my favorite players to watch in my lifetime. He was truely a dominating force. Cosign Eboy btw.

  • http://www.bulls.com Rigo Gonzalez

    So which teams will retire his jersey?

  • http://www.slamonline.com Max

    Spit hot fiyah : yeah I saw it, bosh bosh ba ba ba ba bosh bosh bosh :D GREAT man ;)
    Also Eboy i’m from 1994 and I know Shaq is the most dominant player ever, his highschool footage is amazing, and ofcourse the finals vs hakeem and the hard ass dunks when he was with the Lakers..
    Is he going to be an analyst on tnt?

  • http://www.gil1906.com Pve84

    Just get this man in a broadcast booth/half-time show.

  • Jose

    @Rigo: All of them should, haha, LA definitely will, Miami to i feel would be one to do so, Orlando is a question

  • http://www.yamahyouth.com Germs

    Agree with Eboy. Started following the NBA just before Shaq came in. What a force and dominant player. Enjoyed all 19 years of it. Thanks you SHAQ! Got me thinking about the alley on The Blazers. Thanks!

  • http://www.twitter.com/nflem41 Nicolas Fleming

    I will forever love Neon Bordeaux.

  • http://www.lacuevacrosscountry.com Slick Nick Da Ruler

    Respect due to Shaq Fu. One of the most legendary big men ever, his dominance and natural abilities were game changing. From his backboard breaking days in Orlando, to his social media charisma 20 years later. A true winner, SLAM said it best: Most Dominant Ever.

  • http://slamonline.com 1982

    I hope he makes an album of diss tracks. I read almost every book you (and all your ghost writers) wrote when I was in High School. You were the reason AI went ring less, amid countless others. The Big Retirement.

  • http://slamonline.com Tracy

    Dammit, Im not Tracy! Anyways, onto the topic at hand. Shaq (in his prime, mind you) was the most DOMINANT player ever. I didn’t say the best, the most athletic, the most skilled, I said the most dominant player ever.

  • http://slamonline.com Ghost

    Thanks for the memories big fella.

  • HAMMER

    Buena suerte y vaya con Dios Shaq. So many memories: tearing down rims n Phoenix and New Jersey, him and Van Excel hooking up for ally-oops, the dunk on Cato, Game 7 dunk on my Blazers, destroyin Philly n the Finals. And the list goes on….Mos def will b missed

  • http://www.arbys.com LilKDub503

    I’m glad I was conscious of basketball in his Laker days. Dang, man. I’m glad he’s retired too…it was his time to go. I think it really was last year. But eventually, you just gotta hang em up. Lol at person who said we’ll need some subtitles when he’s on TV.

  • Khalid Salaam

    There wil never ever another. The platinum standard.

  • HAMMER

    Un animal y una bestia!

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    Man I grew up on the Lakers with Shaq & Kobe. I’ll miss his dominance greatly.(He should become a broadcaster. Maybe TNT? I’d love to see a Shaq/Sir Charles argument. I already seen a fight between those two lol)

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    “You know I don’t speak Spanish”

  • Overtime

    Legendary doesnt begin to describe it.
    The stats, the awards, the winning, the unrivalled title of putting more smiles on fans faces than anyone in nearly twenty years.
    MDE indeed

  • http://www.slamonline.com Max

    @ HAMMER the elbows in Motumbo’s face!
    But There was just one player named BEN WALLACE who could kind of stop him, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmJI2ikhPoY
    Shaq wasn’t in his prime anymore, but they had some nice fights when Shaq was still a Laker.

  • http://slamonline.com Eldon Khorshidi

    The most dominant force of the past 15 years. SALUTE.

  • Eddie1

    In 2023 Shaq goes off the deep end. He was always a moody unpredictable guy (according to Tex Winters). Holla city of squalor. Eddie, 2024.

  • larrylegend

    co-sign E & Gerard

  • HAMMER

    “Another one (star from the 90′s) bites the dust” like Queen. Makin me feel old. Damn!

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    Damn I shoulda blocked Kobe’s name out, that would’ve made more sense.

  • http://www.twitter.com/dfrance21 DFrance21

    Shaq will be missed. He dominated play on the court and life off it. His personality is too big to be a halftime/post game analyst. Shaq needs his own show, like an Inside Stuff kind of thing. Or maybe he can go on a Shaq VS. world tour.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Shaq was the last member of the 92′ draft class left in the league. And in a way he finished his career as underrated by the average fan. Too much moving around and posturing without production for the short-term memory/very young fans to look passed.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Underrated how? SLAM, a young people’s magazine, put him as number 4 all time, right? And I don’t remember too many younger SLAM readers getting upset. It was mostly the older people who were bothered.
    Dude was a beast. I’m still mad at how the refs let him bully Mutombo in that 2001 Finals. He didn’t need that sort of leeway. He so bad he made cats actively avoid trying to guard him (Webber and Rasheed).

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Physically, the most dominant center who’s ever lived.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Underrated by the young generation for sure. I had to talk to a group of little freshmen in HS at the gym last week talking about how Dwight Howard is already better then Shaq was. ANd how Kobe was the real best player on that team. — Then I heard my little cousin talking about how Shaq played against nobody in his league physically, and that’s why he won, not because he was “very good.” I’m telling you, people underrate shaq. Which is why I said average fan. — The writers here at slam are not average fans, they are well versed in basketball history, and don’t have the dreaded goldfish syndrome that seems to plague so many sports fans memories.

  • http://no Martin

    Šekica svaka ti dala! Uzivaj u mirovini i dodi sto prije na mjesto komentatora!
    Peace man! Enjoy in retirament! You are the be(a)st center for me!!!
    Come to Croatia and play for Cibona! :)
    Bye

  • flipnoyce

    cosign Eboy@3:37, This dude got moves that couldn’t be stop in his prime.Specially the Shaq Attack spin moves! Could of probably got 6 or 7 rings if IT wasn’t for ball hog 8. The Most Dominant BIG MAN in my era for sure!!! Born in 81!

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