What happened with shaq?

[cdubbz]

Just wondering. I was curious why shaq left the magic after his rookie contract? I was about in 4th grade when it happened so i didnt really know and now that im way older im kind of wondering the story haha. thanks.

[UCFJayBird]

I think there are different reports on what actually happened. Some say the Magic weren't willing to pay as much. And this was before their was a max limit you could pay a player I believe. Others say the Magic were willing to pay just as much, but Shaq left because he thought he was a big fish in a small pond. He wanted to do movies, put out rap albums, and be a part of Hollywood.

I choose to believe the latter. I think he was just lured in by the idea of Hollywood and being a basketball player, an actor, and a rapper all at once.

[magicfan4life05]

There was no restricted Free Agency like there is now, so the magic could not match his offer and keep him if they wanted to. So basically after his rookie contract, he was an unrestricted FA superstar. Some say the magic did match the offer, but the Diesel chose to go to LA for his own purposes like movies, rap albums, more exposure in a big market.

In the end, he said Orlando was a dried up pond and he left


but then dwight howard came and replenished it!!!






The Past





Meets the Present

[MagicMadness]

Basically, the Magic were like check yo self before you wreck yo self. Shaq declined.

[Howard Mass]

The NBA did have restricted free agency before the new CBA in 1996.

Shaq was originally supposed to become a restricted free agent if he were to opt out of his deal but restricted free agency was stripped from the new deal.

There has been speculation this was done to help Shaq get to L./A. by the league but that is speculation.

When he opted out, Shaq always said "Orlando is my first option". Rumors he was going to Los Angeles had been hot all that year.

Los Angeles was also working to get caproom to sign Shaq by trading Vlade Divac's big deal for the Draft Rights to Kobe Bryant and then dealing George Lynch and I believe Antonio Harvey to Vancouver for second round picks.

Their GM at the time Jerry West was trying to clear as much caproom as possible.

Then the Orlando Sentinel ran a stupid poll on if Shaq deserved $100 million I believe it was. 80 percent said no and the early morning Jerry West met with Shaq he showed him that poll.

Shaq then signed the deal with L.A. that set the Magic back many years and one that some argue they have not and never will recover from.

My belief is he wanted to always go to L.A. and the least he could have done was tell Orlando so they could have at least traded him and gotten something for him.

The Magic did file tampering charges against L.A. but nothing ever came of them. Whether they did or not is still a question I ask myself when I think of the situation.

I sincerely hope they never let him be a part of this organization.

As for me, when I wrote the 10 year anniversary article two summers ago, I knew I had moved on and have a nice young bigman in Dwight Howard to root for as it is only a matter of time before he takes this team to a championship.

[magicfan4life05]

Howard, great post, quick question:

If restricted Free Agency was stripped in that year ( but it did exist before) and now we DO have it in the current CBA, then between '96-'08, when did it come back? I was under the impression restricted free agency began after the shaq thing as a result of it to help teams keep their superstar players and prior to that it did not exist ( i was mistaken obviously, but that was what I thought I read somewhere).


thanks

[lovehoops01]

I don't remember the details, but for some reason, I think the year that Shaq was a free agent (and maybe the year before that, too) were the only one(s) in recent NBA history when there was no restricted free agency. Some people said the league worked it out that way so Shaq could get to L.A., where he always wanted to go.

The day he got drafted, Shaq said he was happy to be in the NBA and always wanted to play for the Lakers. I was surprised no one talked about that more then. Also, his agent worked out of L.A. and wanted him out there so he could be the big man about town.

Then Shaq, Zo and Juwan Howard got these $110 million-$125 million contracts and the league decided they couldn't afford unrestricted free agency anymore. Besides, everyone saw what happened to Orlando. Just another one of those cases where Orlando's misfortune ends up helping everyone else in the league so it doesn't happen to the other teams, too. I think that's why the franchise exists -- so the NBA can use them to set the example of what shouldn't happen and then decide it wasn't fair and needs to be fixed. There's a long list of examples I could give where the Magic have been the guinea pig.

Oh....and once upon a time there wasn't a rookie salary scale either. The first year Penny played here, he got to camp late because he still was negotiating his contract. And then the next summer, it took him forever to negotiate his second contract, too. Those were very bitter negotiations. Rashard used to have the same agents that Penny had. They are based in Houston, and that's where Rashard grew up. For that reason, I never thought the Magic would end up talking to him. Strangely, during the season before he became a free agent, he got a new agent. Said something about his agents being very involved with negotiating NFL deals. I'm not sure his old agents stilll have any NBA clients. I think they almost exclusively handle NFL clients now.

[drsd]

Then the Orlando Sentinel ran a stupid poll on if Shaq deserved $100 million I believe it was. 80 percent said no and the early morning Jerry West met with Shaq he showed him that poll.

It was widley reported after Shaq left Orlando that this poll was indeed a major factor in Shaq leaving the East.

But, another issue was his srong desire to market a brand. This came to fruition. We now have the media thrills of: Shaq Diesel, Shaq-Fu: Da Return, You Can't Stop the Reign, Respect, Shaquille O'Neal Presents His Superfriends, Vol. 1

And the movie stylings of: Kazaam and Steel (and other "himself" opportunities in film).

Perhaps we should thank Blue Chips for getting the film/music bug into Shaq's interests.

I for one believe that O'neal was motivated by a great number of forces. All those forces were a pull West.

[Max Power]

I think Shaq left for all those reasons also. Shaq sees himself as a world icon and he wanted to try his hand at everything, and in his mind Los Angeles was the place to do that. But he should have handled in a class manner, which he didn't. He could have at least netted us Cedric Ceballos and some other guys off that Laker team that could have softened the blow of his leaving. Then again, I forgot all about Shaq once Rony Seikaly came in, Magic should have never traded that dude for Ike Austin. Seikaly freaking ruled.

[Versubio]

I think Shaq left for all those reasons also. Shaq sees himself as a world icon and he wanted to try his hand at everything, and in his mind Los Angeles was the place to do that. But he should have handled in a class manner, which he didn't. He could have at least netted us Cedric Ceballos and some other guys off that Laker team that could have softened the blow of his leaving. Then again, I forgot all about Shaq once Rony Seikaly came in, Magic should have never traded that dude for Ike Austin. Seikaly freaking ruled.

Seikaly was the man indeed.

[Magicfan94]

It was on the wall. In early 1992 Shaq did a photo shoot while at LSU with several other athletes based on LSU's student athletes commitment to community service. For the photo shoot he was wearing a Lakers shirt.

In a pre draft interview in 1992 he said his dream was always to not only play in the NBA, but to play for the Lakers.

Several stories stem from this.

The Magic coming with an initial offer of 6 years 90 Mil; the Orlando Sentinel article; then the always famous Jay Boyer 1 star review of Kazaam; the fact that his agent said he could never be a major star like a Michael Jordan in a small market.

In the end it's always been said the Magic offered more by about 3 Million, but it was too late. In Atlanta at 3am days before the Olympics started the LA Lakers sent a press relwease announcing they has signed Shaq.

[MagicMadness]

I remember when I saw the news on ESPN. I got on my bike and just rode around for half an hour.

End of an era.

[theTHIEF]

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