Should The Miami Heat Retire Shaq’s Number?

The Miami Heat announced on Wednesday that they will retire Shaquille O’Neal’s number 32 jersey in a ceremony at the beginning of the 2016-17 season.

O’Neal, who played college basketball at LSU, will become the third Heat player to have his jersey retired, joining Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway.

Now, there's absolutely no doubt that Shaq is one of the all-time greats in the NBA...a no-brainer Hall of Fame player: 2000 NBA MVP, 15-time All-Star, 28,596 career points, 13,099 career rebounds, and 2,732 career blocks.

That's quite a resume!

The issue, to me, is that Shaq only played three-and-a half years with the Heat.

To break it down ever more, he only played in 205 career games with Miami.

In my opinion, that's just not enough time to warrant having a jersey number retired.

When you think of Shaq, what team do you think of first?

I think we'd all agree the answer would be the Los Angeles Lakers.

Shaq's number is retired there, and should be, as he had the most success of his career with that organization, playing in 514 career games, while helping them win three NBA titles.

When you think of Shaq, what team comes to your mind after the Lakers?

I think of the Orlando Magic, for whom he broke into the league with, playing in the first 293 games of his career.

Shaq's number has not been retired by the Magic, but that would make more sense than his number being retired by the Heat, even though he was part of a championship team there.

Dwyane Wade should have his number retired by the Heat, and will, eventually. He's a Heat player. Shaq is a Laker.

I just think way too many numbers are being retired by organizations, and it lessens the honor.

If a player is not a Hall of Famer, his number shouldn't be retired, with a couple of rare exceptions.

In Shaq's case, he's a Hall of Famer, but the Heat would rank third on the list of teams he's remembered playing for.

To me, that's not enough.