Shaquille O’Neal is planning to play in the NBA until he is 40 and will wear his old high school and college jersey number, 33, when playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers next season.
O’Neal, 37, indicated in a Friday message on social Internet Web site Twitter that he intends to continue in the league beyond the one-year contract he has remaining.
“My numbers are not good enough to retire 3 more yrs left,” O’Neal’s message said.
PHOTO: AP
O’Neal was traded on Thursday from the Phoenix Suns to the Cavaliers, where he will play alongside NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James and try to help the superstar playmaker win his first NBA title.
The Cavaliers announced on Friday that O’Neal will wear 33, the number he wore while a college star at Louisiana State, rather than 32, the jersey number he used to while with Miami, Orlando and Phoenix. He wore 34 while with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bringing Shaq to the Cavaliers looks to be a move to help the team keep James from leaving next year as a free agent, an option he could exercise as a number of offers are expected should he go that route.
James, whose Cavaliers lost to San Antonio in last year’s NBA Finals, said he was looking forward to playing alongside O’Neal.
“Shaq is an incredible ballplayer and a four-time NBA champion,” James said. “I have a lot of respect for him and his game. It will be a real honor to play with Shaq as my teammate. I look forward to another great season with the Cavs.”
Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry sent Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a 2010 draft pick and money to the Suns for O’Neal.
“Obviously LeBron’s future is important to our organization, but this move and our goals are in line with what I think our players want, which is to win a championship and win it this year. We don’t want to be patient,” Ferry said.
The move gives Cleveland a top center to contend with Orlando star Dwight Howard, who averaged 25.8 points, 13 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots a game in the Eastern Conference finals to lead the Magic in defeating the Cavaliers.
O’Neal averaged 17.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots in 75 games and played 30 minutes a game, silencing talk that he might be over the hill.
“He is a force. He always has been. Still is,” Ferry said. “On the defensive end, just around the basket, he’s a wall. Offensively he’s a force in that he’s going to get double teams.”
That should help James, himself a threat often requiring double coverage, and send Lithuanian veteran Zydrunas Ilgauskas to the bench.
“I do think he can have a really big impact in making the group better,” Ferry said.
James and O’Neal both hunger for a title and that desire is expected to be larger than any possible ego conflicts, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said.
“Both guys are good guys,” Brown said. “Both guys like each other. Both guys will be happy to play with one another. And the most important thing is they have one common goal. Those are the things that are going to make this work.”
“Because they’re competitive, because they have that one common goal, I think will help this relationship and make this journey work,” he said. “Only time will tell as we go along how it all meshes out.”
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