Shaquille O’Neal deserves to have number retired by Miami Heat

Shaquille O’Neal helped the Miami Heat win their first title, so he deserves to have his number retired by the team.

Shaquille O’Neal will finally get the send off that he deserves from the Miami Heat.

The Heat will retire his jersey number during a special halftime ceremony during their Dec. 22 game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Let’s ignore the fact that he played only four seasons in South Beach and wasn’t nearly his dominant self as he was with the Lakers and the Orlando Magic. Shaq deserves to have his number retired by the Heat for one simple reason:

He helped bring the team their first title.

That’s something Alonzo Mourning couldn’t do in his prime. It was something Tim Hardaway couldn’t achieve on questionable knees. It was something that Dwyane Wade, who got all of the glory during that memorable 2006 NBA Finals, couldn’t do by himself.

But Mourning and Hardaway have both had their numbers retired by the team as those two brought the Heat to contending status during their heyday, and one can make the argument that, if it wasn’t for the New York Knicks, the Heat probably would have had a couple of titles in the post-Michael Jordan era.

And you know that Wade’s No. 3 isn’t going to be worn by any other Heat player ever again.

Wade, obviously, revived a Heat team that was crumbling beneath the weight of old age, and he is, by far, the one that most embodies the Heat.

But Shaq should be given his due credit as well. Though Wade had the Heat on the upward swing, it wasn’t until Shaq got there that the Heat become contenders yet again. So the Heat should give him thanks, and that No. 32 should be a jersey number that shouldn’t be touch again in South Beach.