Miami Heat To Retire Shaquille O'Neal's Number 32
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Another number will be rising to the rafters of AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Miami Heat announced on Monday that the team will retire Shaquille O'Neal's No. 32 jersey later this season.
O'Neal will join great Heat players Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway as the franchise's only players to have their numbers retired.
O'Neal's No 32 will join Mourning's No. 33 and Hardaway's No. 10.
The ceremony will take place during halftime of Miami's December 22nd game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Heat President Pat Riley will speak at the ceremony, as will O'Neal.
Shaq played 19 years in the NBA, winning four NBA Championships (one with the Heat), three NBA Finals MVP's, 15 All-Star selections, an NBA regular season MVP, an NBA Rookie of the Year award and a gold medal with Team USA.
He played three and a half seasons with the Heat, leading the team to the 2006 NBA Championship along with Dwyane Wade, who was only in his third year in the league at that time.
Shaq and Wade created the dynamic duo of Superman and Flash, combing for countless alley-oops but few as good as this one:
O'Neal is still Miami's all-time leader in field goal percentage at .596 and is towards of the top of countless other team records for scoring and defense stats.