Orlando Magic Shaq Orlando Magic Shaq, also known as Shaquille O’Neal, is a former professional basketball player who played for the Orlando Magic team in the NBA. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. O’Neal joined the Magic in 1992 after being selected as the first overall pick in the NBA draft. His arrival instantly rejuvenated the franchise and brought excitement to the fans. Standing at 7 feet 1 inch tall and weighing over 300 pounds, O’Neal possessed an incredible combination of size, strength, and agility that made him almost unstoppable on the court. During his tenure with the Orlando Magic, O’Neal became a dominant force and quickly established himself as one of the league’s premier centers.

Shaquille O'Neal to Become First Orlando Magic Player to Have Number Retired

Sean Neumann is a reporter at PEOPLE. He has been working at PEOPLE since 2019. His work has previously appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, ESPN, and more.

Published on January 5, 2024 11:33AM EST Trending Videos Shaquille O'Neal. Photo:

Shaq is being honored for his magical first four seasons in the NBA!

Shaquille O’Neal, 51, will become the first player in the history of the Orlando Magic franchise to have his number retired.

O’Neal received the news Thursday night during TNT’s Inside the NBA broadcast when Magic CEO Alex Martins called into the show to tell the retired NBA center that the team was planning to hang his jersey up in the rafters, signifying its retirement.

“I hear you’ve been waiting for a phone call from us and the wait is over,” Martins said. “On behalf of the Devos family and myself and all of us here 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.”

A picture-in-picture showed O’Neal smiling while Martins shared the news.

“You had a great career here at the beginning of your career and we had some great times,” Martins said. “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 wiped away a tear from his eye as confetti dropped from the ceiling and co-hosts Ernie Johnson Jr., Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley clapped and shouted in celebration.

“Congratulations, big!” Barkley shouted across the desk.

Shaquille O'Neal.

Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images

Later in the broadcast, TNT aired a video message from O’Neal’s mom, Dr. Lucille O’Neal.

“I can remember back when they called your name: ‘Orlando Magic with the first pick…’ and they picked Shaquille O’Neal,” his mother said into the camera.

“We were all so happy for you, as well as excited. And I have to tell you, you made us all proud with all of that joy and excitement you brought to the Orlando community. This award and this recognition is well deserved, so we want you to enjoy it. We’re so proud of you,” she continued.

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O’Neal played his first four seasons in Orlando before becoming a free agent and signing with the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA Hall of Famer was the team’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 1992 and helped lead the Magic to the NBA Finals in 1995.

"It was a great four years there," O'Neal said during the broadcast. "I just wanted to come in and make a name for myself."

Shaquille O'Neal.

Focus on Sport/Getty Images

Although O’Neal didn’t help the Magic achieve its dream of becoming NBA Champions, he did win four combined championships with the Lakers and the Miami Heat later in his career.

A 15-time NBA All-Star and three-time NBA Finals MVP, O’Neal had his jersey retired by the Lakers in 2013 and by the Heat in 2016. He will be only the second player in NBA history to have his jersey retired by three separate teams, according to NBC Los Angeles. NBA Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain was the other.

O’Neal was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2016.

Orlando Magic to Retire #32 in Honor of Shaquille O'Neal

ORLANDO - The Orlando Magic, celebrating their 35th anniversary this season, will officially retire jersey #32 in honor of Shaquille O’Neal during a postgame ceremony on Tuesday, February 13. O’Neal becomes the first player in franchise history to have his number retired.

The #32 will be retired following the Magic’s game against Oklahoma City. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are available through OrlandoMagic.com or by calling 1-800-4-NBATIX. The game will be nationally televised by TNT.

“When someone asks who was the first player to officially put the Orlando Magic on the map, the answer is simple - Shaquille O’Neal,” said Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins. “He took this franchise to new heights, both on and off the court, and his legacy is still felt within our organization today. On behalf of the DeVos family, we are excited to honor Shaquille by raising #32 into the rafters of the Kia Center, where it will remain forever.”

Magic Chairman Dan DeVos said, “Through his dominating play, larger-than-life personality, and generous contributions to The City Beautiful, Shaquille O’Neal had a transformational impact on this team and this town. Our family and the entire franchise couldn’t be more pleased for Shaquille to receive this well-deserved honor, further cementing his enduring legacy here in Orlando as we collectively look back on his tremendous accomplishments in a Magic uniform.”

Selected by Orlando with the first overall pick of the 1992 NBA Draft, O'Neal spent four seasons with the Magic from 1992-96. He appeared in 295 regular season games (293 starts) with Orlando, averaging 27.2 ppg., 12.5 rpg., 2.4 apg. and 2.79 blkpg. in 37.8 minpg., while shooting .581 (3,208-5,522 FG) from the floor.

O'Neal was named an NBA All-Star four times as a member of the Magic, named to the All-NBA Second Team once (1994-95) and All-NBA Third Team twice (1993-94, 1995-96). He was also named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1992-93 and was the NBA's Rookie of the Year.

O'Neal still ranks among the franchise's all-time leaders in several categories, including blocked shots (second, 824), rebounding (third, 3,691), free throws made (third, 1,602), field goals made (fourth, 3,208) and points scored (sixth, 8,019). His 27.2 points per game average is the second-highest in team history and he helped Orlando reach the 1995 NBA Finals.

O’Neal was inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame in 2015 and was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. He was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team in October 2021.

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It’s bittersweet, but Magic did right thing by retiring Shaq’s jersey | Commentary

It isn’t what it could have been or what it should have been, but it was time.

Time for the Orlando Magic to put nearly three decades of bitterness and heartbreak aside and retire Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey.

The Magic, in what can only be described as an historically humbling, classy and pride-swallowing move, did exactly that Thursday night when they announced that Shaq’s No. 32 will be the first jersey number in team history to hang in the rafters of the Amway, er, Kia Center.

Shaq (left) and Penny (right) transformed Orlando into the youngest, hottest, hippest team in the NBA. (Sentinel file photo)

“When someone asks who was the first player to officially put the Orlando Magic on the map, the answer is simple –— Shaquille O’Neal,” Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins said in a press release sent out by the team Thursday night. “He took this franchise to new heights, both on and off the court.”

He also took the franchise, the fans and the city to new lows, but none of that is mentioned in the press release for obvious reasons. You see, the Facebook relationship status between the Magic and Shaq can only be described in two words: “It’s complicated.”

Yes, he put the franchise on the map.

And then he put it in the toilet.

But as Robert Frost once said, “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”

In other words, anybody who’s still bitter about Shaq leaving Orlando needs to get over it. I’ve gone back and forth on Shaq bailing out on the Magic all those years ago, but what’s the point of quibbling over retiring his jersey? He’s already in the Magic Hall of Fame and if the team is going to start retiring jerseys then there’s no question you have to start with the Big Fella. As the Magic celebrate their 35th anniversary this season, Shaq is undoubtedly the team’s first great player and the city’s first sports superstar.

Shaquille O’Neal was all smiles as he is inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame in 2017 (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

His impact on the Magic and the sports scene in Orlando is undeniable. He almost single-handedly (sorry, Penny) transformed a stumbling expansion franchise into an instant playoff contender and, in the process, made the Magic into the youngest, hottest, hippest team in the NBA.

He wasn’t just a basketball player; he was literally and figuratively a larger-than-life cultural icon who infused Central Florida with happiness and hope, exultation and excitement, sold-out arenas and visions of NBA championships. He was the Walt Disney of the sports in Orlando. Before him, there was nothing and then he came to town and built a Magic kingdom.

Except Disney World is still here.

Shaq World vaporized in a poof of pixie dust when he bolted Orlando for the glitz and glamor of Hollywood and the L.A. Lakers.

And just like that — amid the consternation and controversy of a manipulative agent, a lowball contract offer, an ill-fated Orlando Sentinel poll and Shaq’s own desire to make bad movies and and become a fringe rap star — he was gone.

Former Magic player and current team ambassador Nick Anderson once told me the story about the day Shaq signed with the Lakers in 1996.

“I was sitting at my home in Chicago watching the Olympics when a special bulletin came on and I happened to see the Big Fella holding a [Lakers] jersey standing next to Jerry West,” Anderson remembers. “I fell off the couch. Two minutes later, my phone rang and it was my dad calling to say, ‘You know, your championships just went to L.A.’ And how right he was.”

Brian Schmitz, a former Orlando Sentinel sports columnist who covered the team during the Shaq era, thinks the Magic are making a big mistake by retiring Shaq’s jersey. And Schmitz is adamant that, at the very least, Anderson — the team’s inaugural draft pick who played a decade in a Magic uniform — should have had his jersey retired first.

“It really surprises me that they are retiring Shaq’s jersey at all,” Schmitz says. “And why are they retiring it first? Nick was in Orlando before Shaq. And Shaq was only here for four years. He was a one-term president like Jimmy Carter. And then he gave them the finger on his way out of town.”

All of that hope and hype when Shaq arrived turned into depression and disappointment when he left. For more than a decade — until Dwight Howard was drafted — this was a franchise mired in mediocrity.

That’s why the announcement of the jersey retirement on Thursday was a bittersweet moment. It was the Orlando Magic paying homage to the good times and celebrating the greatness Shaq once brought to our city. It also was their cathartic acknowledgment that, despite his acrimonious departure, he is the most dominant, dynamic player in team history.

He is not, however, the greatest player in Magic history. He was only in Orlando for four years and is remembered mostly for the three championships he won with Kobe in L.A. I believe Dwight, who was in Orlando twice as long as Shaq and holds franchise records for scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, is the greatest player in Magic history.

Dwight, like Shaq, left the franchise amid acrimony and animosity, and in a few years, he, too, will come back to Orlando and have his jersey rightfully retired. Isn’t it funny that Dwight and Shaq have both expressed regret over the years about leaving Orlando?

“Knowing what I know now, I would have stayed in Orlando,” Shaq said upon his retirement from the NBA. “I regret leaving Orlando. Orlando is where I started and where I should’ve stayed. I regret it because of the DeVos family. They deserve a couple of NBA titles.”

In an ideal world, Shaq would have led the Magic to multiple championships and not only have his jersey retired but have a statue in front of the arena of him dunking the basketball and ripping down the backboard in the process.

No, this isn’t the storybook ending it could have been or it should have been. It’s a jersey retirement that hearkens us back to both a happier and a sadder era in Magic history.

But in sports, as in life, celebrating the good times while forgiving past mistakes is always the wisest way to move forward.

Email me at [email protected]. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen

During his tenure with the Orlando Magic, O’Neal became a dominant force and quickly established himself as one of the league’s premier centers. He showcased his extraordinary skills, often overpowering opponents with his brute strength and dunking abilities. O’Neal’s presence in the paint made him a formidable defensive presence, altering shots and swatting away opponents’ attempts.

Offensively, Orlando Magic Shaq showcased a variety of moves that made him a nightmare for opposing defenses. His size allowed him to overpower defenders in the low post, and his agility enabled him to maneuver around them for easy baskets. O’Neal’s ability to finish at the rim with thunderous dunks became one of his trademarks. During his four seasons with the Orlando Magic, O’Neal led the team to several successful campaigns, including an NBA Finals appearance in 1995. Although they fell short in the finals, O’Neal’s impact on the team and the city of Orlando was undeniable. He brought a sense of excitement and optimism to the franchise, earning the admiration and support of fans. O’Neal’s time with the Orlando Magic helped to solidify his legacy as one of the greatest players in NBA history. His combination of size, skill, and dominance revolutionized the center position, inspiring a new generation of players. Even after leaving the Magic, O’Neal continued to have a successful career, winning multiple championships and earning numerous accolades. Today, Orlando Magic Shaq is remembered as a basketball icon who left an indelible mark on the franchise and the city of Orlando. His impact on the court and his larger-than-life personality continue to resonate with fans and basketball enthusiasts alike. O’Neal's time with the Magic serves as a testament to his greatness and his place among the legends of the game..

Reviews for "The Shaq Effect: How His Departure Impacted the NBA Landscape"

1. John - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "Orlando Magic Shaq". I had heard so much about Shaquille O'Neal's amazing basketball skills and his dominance on the court, but this documentary didn't do justice to his greatness. The film lacked depth and failed to engage me as a viewer. I was expecting a more comprehensive exploration of his time with the Orlando Magic, but instead, it felt rushed and superficial. Overall, I feel let down by this documentary.

2. Sarah - 1 star - "Orlando Magic Shaq" was a complete waste of my time. I was hoping to learn more about Shaquille O'Neal's journey and the impact he made during his Orlando Magic days, but this documentary fell short. The storytelling was weak, and it barely scratched the surface. It felt more like a promotional video than a well-researched documentary. I would not recommend wasting your time on this shallow and uninspiring film.

3. Mike - 2 stars - As a fan of Shaquille O'Neal, I was eagerly anticipating "Orlando Magic Shaq". Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. The film lacked substance and failed to truly capture the impact Shaq had on the Orlando Magic and the NBA as a whole. It felt like a missed opportunity to delve deeper into his career and provide a more comprehensive look at his time with the team. Overall, I was disappointed and would not recommend this documentary to fellow basketball fans.

4. Emily - 1 star - I had high hopes for "Orlando Magic Shaq" considering the hype surrounding Shaquille O'Neal's career. However, I found the documentary to be incredibly underwhelming. It lacked any real depth or insight into Shaq's time with the Orlando Magic. The filmmaking felt uninspired, and the pacing was off. The whole experience left me feeling bored and uninterested. I would not recommend wasting your time on this forgettable documentary.

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