Magic to Retire Shaquille O'Neal's #32 Jersey on 2/13/24

[Skin]

Penny, T-Mac, and Dwight deserve it.

[davey_wavy]

Shaquille in Orlando was and is ICONIC Shaq.

If you saw someone walk towards you in a Magic #32 jersey, you wouldn't think twice as to what last name is on the back (there's been other #32s since Shaq)

Retiring the Jersey makes sense in a lot of ways. Some of you should get off your high horse

We just have higher standards for what a jersey retirement is supposed to mean. It's the highest honor a team can give a player, and we're giving it to a guy who was here 4 years out of his 20 year career, didn't win an MVP, didn't win a championship (let alone a game in the Finals), didn't make All-NBA 1st team, etc. But he did go on to do all of those things in other team's jerseys.

We're retiring his jersey because of his persona and his notoriety, not because of anything he did on the court as a Magic player.

I'll die on this hill, lol. But once it's in the rafters it'll be there forever, so i'll get over it and just shake my head every time I see it. *shrugs* There are more important things in the world, but I've yet to hear an actually compelling argument on why Shaq deserves this. The best we seem to be able to come up with is that he was popular, and he was our first superstar and made us contenders (but not winners) earlier than most expansion teams are able to, which IMO isn't good enough.

It's honestly amazing how fan feelings have changed ever since that 30 for 30 came out and ever since Shaq retired. Ironically I used to be one of his biggest defenders and used to tell people to let it go. Now i'm the one arguing we've gone too far in the other direction.

Shaq (imo) deserves it because:

1. Has an undeniable connection with the franchise. We drafted him. He was larger than life to our city & community

2. He had success with us. We went from **** to shine the minute we drafted him. Got us to the Finals. Made us Eastern conference champs. Ask yourself this- Can the story of our glory days be told without mentioning Shaq?

3. His statistical body of work is nice. Averaged over 20ppg and 10reb per game all 4 seasons here. 3x All NBA player, rookie of the Year, and never missed an all star game as a Magician.

4. He had the intangibles. Was Shaq a credit to the organization, the city and the league? Hell yeah he was. He literally changed the game. He snapped backboards in half with the word Magic across his chest.

Put the mans #32 in the rafters. He did more for us in 4 years than players do in a lifetime

[flranger]

Jersey retirements are stupid regardless of who it is

[Kent]

He did more for us in 4 years than players do in a lifetime

This is what it's about. Context is key.

Shaq put the Magic on the map. He deserves the honor.

[Bensational]

Wrong thread

[UCFJayBird]

Shaquille in Orlando was and is ICONIC Shaq.

If you saw someone walk towards you in a Magic #32 jersey, you wouldn't think twice as to what last name is on the back (there's been other #32s since Shaq)

Retiring the Jersey makes sense in a lot of ways. Some of you should get off your high horse

We just have higher standards for what a jersey retirement is supposed to mean. It's the highest honor a team can give a player, and we're giving it to a guy who was here 4 years out of his 20 year career, didn't win an MVP, didn't win a championship (let alone a game in the Finals), didn't make All-NBA 1st team, etc. But he did go on to do all of those things in other team's jerseys.

We're retiring his jersey because of his persona and his notoriety, not because of anything he did on the court as a Magic player.

I'll die on this hill, lol. But once it's in the rafters it'll be there forever, so i'll get over it and just shake my head every time I see it. *shrugs* There are more important things in the world, but I've yet to hear an actually compelling argument on why Shaq deserves this. The best we seem to be able to come up with is that he was popular, and he was our first superstar and made us contenders (but not winners) earlier than most expansion teams are able to, which IMO isn't good enough.

It's honestly amazing how fan feelings have changed ever since that 30 for 30 came out and ever since Shaq retired. Ironically I used to be one of his biggest defenders and used to tell people to let it go. Now i'm the one arguing we've gone too far in the other direction.

Shaq (imo) deserves it because:

1. Has an undeniable connection with the franchise. We drafted him. He was larger than life to our city & community

2. He had success with us. We went from **** to shine the minute we drafted him. Got us to the Finals. Made us Eastern conference champs. Ask yourself this- Can the story of our glory days be told without mentioning Shaq?

3. His statistical body of work is nice. Averaged over 20ppg and 10reb per game all 4 seasons here. 3x All NBA player, rookie of the Year, and never missed an all star game as a Magician.

4. He had the intangibles. Was Shaq a credit to the organization, the city and the league? Hell yeah he was. He literally changed the game. He snapped backboards in half with the word Magic across his chest.

Put the mans #32 in the rafters. He did more for us in 4 years than players do in a lifetime

1. Agreed, he was larger than life and did a lot for the city & community for a few years in the early/mid 90s, but it was so short lived. He was insanely popular, but a jersey retirement isn't a popularity contest.

2. He didn't do it alone. People seem to forget we got INSANELY LUCKY to win the draft two years in a row, and then we also signed Horace Grant, already had a stable of some really good players like Anderson and Scott. Can the story of our "glory days" be told without those guys either? Do all of those guys deserve to have their jerseys retired? And again, it was four years and we didn't win a championship. Yes, we won the eastern conference, which was fun and great, but it's not something to retire a jersey for, certainly not for doing it once.

3. His statistical achievements in 4 years are good, but they're not jersey retirement good. ROY is a nice achievement but plenty of players win it that won't sniff the HOF let alone get jersey retirement (i.e. your Mike Miller players, who had respectable careers but aren't HOFers).

4. Ok? He deserves to have his jersey retired because he was so physically aggressive with dunks they had to find ways to reinforce the backboards?

This is what it's about. Context is key.

Shaq put the Magic on the map. He deserves the honor.

I'm sorry but I'm going to need someone to tell me more about this "map" he put us on, lol. Yes, he made us culturally relevant for a few years in the mid 90s, but it's not like we were some dynasty. We weren't the Bulls, we weren't the showtime Lakers, we were a fun team to watch for a few years and then went to mediocrity and the cellar of the NBA until we drafted Dwight.

I grew up watching Shaq. I LOVED watching Shaq and Penny, I still have my Lil Penny doll sitting on my bookshelf behind me. But outside of being highly entertaining for fours and making us a better team faster than anticipated as an expansion squad, they didn't do much in terms of lasting legacy outside of being prevalent in pop culture, which I couldn't care less about when it comes to hanging jerseys in rafters. Why is the Magic HOF not enough for these types of accomplishments?

Years from now when we look back on this, I hope we see other jerseys up there for guys like Paolo because hopefully they'll have won us a championship or two. And when that happens, I think we'll look back on Shaq's jersey being up there and think it's silly we did so.

[Last Guardian]

Shaq is easily the best player we've ever had. And he made me a Magic fan lol. He deserves it.

[JoshuaPotter]

Oh reginalds.....

I DISAGREE!!!

It won't stop me from being a Magic fan. Just feels dumb. I expect T-Mac, Howard, Lewis, Hedo, Patric Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, Mark Price, Billups, Grant Hill, Ben Wallace and lest we forget Anfernee Hardaway. to get it for similar reasons. No particular order.

[Kent]

We just have higher standards for what a jersey retirement is supposed to mean. It's the highest honor a team can give a player, and we're giving it to a guy who was here 4 years out of his 20 year career, didn't win an MVP, didn't win a championship (let alone a game in the Finals), didn't make All-NBA 1st team, etc. But he did go on to do all of those things in other team's jerseys.

We're retiring his jersey because of his persona and his notoriety, not because of anything he did on the court as a Magic player.

I'll die on this hill, lol. But once it's in the rafters it'll be there forever, so i'll get over it and just shake my head every time I see it. *shrugs* There are more important things in the world, but I've yet to hear an actually compelling argument on why Shaq deserves this. The best we seem to be able to come up with is that he was popular, and he was our first superstar and made us contenders (but not winners) earlier than most expansion teams are able to, which IMO isn't good enough.

It's honestly amazing how fan feelings have changed ever since that 30 for 30 came out and ever since Shaq retired. Ironically I used to be one of his biggest defenders and used to tell people to let it go. Now i'm the one arguing we've gone too far in the other direction.

Shaq (imo) deserves it because:

1. Has an undeniable connection with the franchise. We drafted him. He was larger than life to our city & community

2. He had success with us. We went from **** to shine the minute we drafted him. Got us to the Finals. Made us Eastern conference champs. Ask yourself this- Can the story of our glory days be told without mentioning Shaq?

3. His statistical body of work is nice. Averaged over 20ppg and 10reb per game all 4 seasons here. 3x All NBA player, rookie of the Year, and never missed an all star game as a Magician.

4. He had the intangibles. Was Shaq a credit to the organization, the city and the league? Hell yeah he was. He literally changed the game. He snapped backboards in half with the word Magic across his chest.

Put the mans #32 in the rafters. He did more for us in 4 years than players do in a lifetime

1. Agreed, he was larger than life and did a lot for the city & community for a few years in the early/mid 90s, but it was so short lived. He was insanely popular, but a jersey retirement isn't a popularity contest.

2. He didn't do it alone. People seem to forget we got INSANELY LUCKY to win the draft two years in a row, and then we also signed Horace Grant, already had a stable of some really good players like Anderson and Scott. Can the story of our "glory days" be told without those guys either? Do all of those guys deserve to have their jerseys retired? And again, it was four years and we didn't win a championship. Yes, we won the eastern conference, which was fun and great, but it's not something to retire a jersey for, certainly not for doing it once.

3. His statistical achievements in 4 years are good, but they're not jersey retirement good. ROY is a nice achievement but plenty of players win it that won't sniff the HOF let alone get jersey retirement (i.e. your Mike Miller players, who had respectable careers but aren't HOFers).

4. Ok? He deserves to have his jersey retired because he was so physically aggressive with dunks they had to find ways to reinforce the backboards?

This is what it's about. Context is key.

Shaq put the Magic on the map. He deserves the honor.

I'm sorry but I'm going to need someone to tell me more about this "map" he put us on, lol. Yes, he made us culturally relevant for a few years in the mid 90s, but it's not like we were some dynasty. We weren't the Bulls, we weren't the showtime Lakers, we were a fun team to watch for a few years and then went to mediocrity and the cellar of the NBA until we drafted Dwight.

I grew up watching Shaq. I LOVED watching Shaq and Penny, I still have my Lil Penny doll sitting on my bookshelf behind me. But outside of being highly entertaining for fours and making us a better team faster than anticipated as an expansion squad, they didn't do much in terms of lasting legacy outside of being prevalent in pop culture, which I couldn't care less about when it comes to hanging jerseys in rafters. Why is the Magic HOF not enough for these types of accomplishments?

Years from now when we look back on this, I hope we see other jerseys up there for guys like Paolo because hopefully they'll have won us a championship or two. And when that happens, I think we'll look back on Shaq's jersey being up there and think it's silly we did so.

I respect where you're coming from.

As far as Shaq putting the team on the map, we can't forget that Shaq was arguably the most popular player in the league. Heck, I would say he certifiably was when MJ retired.

He was on our team. The spotlight was on us.

Sure, we had Penny. Horace. But they don't come here if it wasn't for Shaq.

And no great player ever did it alone. Well, at least in the modern era.

And no, we didn't have a dynasty. And he was here for only four years. But those four years of having that larger than life personality and one of the soon-to-be most dominant players to ever play the game on our team? That was big-time.

I say this with respect, but look at the Hornets. Look at their history. They would kill to have had Shaq.

If all they had was those four years of Shaq, they would retire his jersey too. No question about it.

Players can have different reasons for their jersey to be retired. And they didn't all have HoF careers or lead teams to championships.

Mutombo (ATL and DEN), STAT + Matrix (PHX) come to mind.

Not all careers are created equal. And players' significance to a franchise aren't created equal either.

Let's just have fun with it.

[davey_wavy]

Shaq (imo) deserves it because:

1. Has an undeniable connection with the franchise. We drafted him. He was larger than life to our city & community

2. He had success with us. We went from **** to shine the minute we drafted him. Got us to the Finals. Made us Eastern conference champs. Ask yourself this- Can the story of our glory days be told without mentioning Shaq?

3. His statistical body of work is nice. Averaged over 20ppg and 10reb per game all 4 seasons here. 3x All NBA player, rookie of the Year, and never missed an all star game as a Magician.

4. He had the intangibles. Was Shaq a credit to the organization, the city and the league? Hell yeah he was. He literally changed the game. He snapped backboards in half with the word Magic across his chest.

Put the mans #32 in the rafters. He did more for us in 4 years than players do in a lifetime

1. Agreed, he was larger than life and did a lot for the city & community for a few years in the early/mid 90s, but it was so short lived. He was insanely popular, but a jersey retirement isn't a popularity contest.

2. He didn't do it alone. People seem to forget we got INSANELY LUCKY to win the draft two years in a row, and then we also signed Horace Grant, already had a stable of some really good players like Anderson and Scott. Can the story of our "glory days" be told without those guys either? Do all of those guys deserve to have their jerseys retired? And again, it was four years and we didn't win a championship. Yes, we won the eastern conference, which was fun and great, but it's not something to retire a jersey for, certainly not for doing it once.

3. His statistical achievements in 4 years are good, but they're not jersey retirement good. ROY is a nice achievement but plenty of players win it that won't sniff the HOF let alone get jersey retirement (i.e. your Mike Miller players, who had respectable careers but aren't HOFers).

4. Ok? He deserves to have his jersey retired because he was so physically aggressive with dunks they had to find ways to reinforce the backboards?

This is what it's about. Context is key.

Shaq put the Magic on the map. He deserves the honor.

I'm sorry but I'm going to need someone to tell me more about this "map" he put us on, lol. Yes, he made us culturally relevant for a few years in the mid 90s, but it's not like we were some dynasty. We weren't the Bulls, we weren't the showtime Lakers, we were a fun team to watch for a few years and then went to mediocrity and the cellar of the NBA until we drafted Dwight.

I grew up watching Shaq. I LOVED watching Shaq and Penny, I still have my Lil Penny doll sitting on my bookshelf behind me. But outside of being highly entertaining for fours and making us a better team faster than anticipated as an expansion squad, they didn't do much in terms of lasting legacy outside of being prevalent in pop culture, which I couldn't care less about when it comes to hanging jerseys in rafters. Why is the Magic HOF not enough for these types of accomplishments?

Years from now when we look back on this, I hope we see other jerseys up there for guys like Paolo because hopefully they'll have won us a championship or two. And when that happens, I think we'll look back on Shaq's jersey being up there and think it's silly we did so.

I respect where you're coming from.

As far as Shaq putting the team on the map, we can't forget that Shaq was arguably the most popular player in the league. Heck, I would say he certifiably was when MJ retired.

He was on our team. The spotlight was on us.

Sure, we had Penny. Horace. But they don't come here if it wasn't for Shaq.

And no great player ever did it alone. Well, at least in the modern era.

And no, we didn't have a dynasty. And he was here for only four years. But those four years of having that larger than life personality and one of the soon-to-be most dominant players to ever play the game on our team? That was big-time.

I say this with respect, but look at the Hornets. Look at their history. They would kill to have had Shaq.

If all they had was those four years of Shaq, they would retire his jersey too. No question about it.

Players can have different reasons for their jersey to be retired. And they didn't all have HoF careers or lead teams to championships.

Mutombo (ATL and DEN), STAT + Matrix (PHX) come to mind.

Not all careers are created equal. And players' significance to a franchise aren't created equal either.

Let's just have fun with it.

You nailed it Kent.

[Howard Mass]

It will ironically be 32 years this fall since I became a Basketball Fan.

The buzz Shaquille O'Neal brought to town was what brought many into the sport myself included.

It was a great time and those 4 years we were so spoiled.

For me, those years were difficult ones personally as they were the middle school years (plus 5th grade) but The Magic and all the amazing things that happened during those 4 years helped keep me going.

It was a fun ride.

During that 4th year though, all the haters and people who in this town who did not believe in this team thought that Shaq was going to bolt for L.A.

I never wanted to believe it and then it happened.

I still remember everything about that day which was one of the most devastating ones of my life.

Some people will point to the Sentinel Poll and/or the low ball offer, etc. but believe that Shaq was always leaving no matter what. In comments he has made over the years, I firmly believe it.

After he left, I followed stats, salaries and Teams' future Draft Pick situations even more closely than before. 4 years later, I joined up with a startup Basketball Website and here we are 24 years later.

If it was not for Pat Williams and then for Shaquille O'Neal coming here, I might never have followed Basketball and been in this position today. For that, I am grateful to Shaq as you can say he helped change my life.

However, the way he left this team high and dry and how he has bashed The Magic over the years leaves me at the opinion that his jersey should not be retired by The Orlando Magic.

Obviously, it will be tonight though. It's disappointing but it is what it is. I encourage anyone who is at the game and upset about it to just leave before the post game Ceremony.

When I look up into the rafters, I'll remember a happy time in my life and a great time in Orlando Magic History.

[crazytown]

Read on Twitter

[cedric76]

This was a nice ceremony, was nice to see old faces, it brought me back

[dsg2021]

This was a nice ceremony, was nice to see old faces, it brought me back

Yes, definitely. And big congratulations to the big guy

[shadrock]

Anyone else feel it was a bit strange that he said Nick Anderson should have been the first retired? To me it felt like he threw the organisation under the bus with that comment.

[paperboymafia]

Shaq deserves it for the sole reason that he put Orlando on the map on a *global* scale. (along with Penny).

[MagicStarwipe]

Looks like we retired this guys jersey...

[OhioRock3]

Read on Twitter

Absolutely wild how they f'd up the jersey. I hope they take it down and replace it with the correct one

[JoshuaPotter]

Anyone else feel it was a bit strange that he said Nick Anderson should have been the first retired? To me it felt like he threw the organisation under the bus with that comment.

Not really. If we are as many have said before going off of contributions. He has been a key player. Even if he did miss the 4 most important free throws in this organizations history. I say that truth because it is what happened. I never ever ever ever told him he ruined anyone's life. Just a series, in a game.

I always felt for him. He lost his FT ability after that. Was the butt of many unnecessary jokes. While still overall being a pretty good player. He scored 50 points in an era where that was much harder to do.

[fendilim]

Not a fan of his speech.

As much as the other guys like anderson, penny or tmac deserves it, I don’t think it is Shaq’s to decide nor put pressure on the team.