Feb 7, 2008 8:43 am US/Eastern
A Look At The Shaquille O'Neal Trade
Heat to Receive Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Shaquille O'Neal, no longer a member of the Miami Heat, attended Wednesday night's Phoenix Suns game and held up his championship ring for the arena big screen to send a message to fans that he intends to bring to Phoenix the championship that has eluded the Suns franchise through its 40-year history. Sound familiar? He made the same promise when he came to Miami and he fulfilled that promise when he helped the Heat win the NBA Championship in 2006.
The trade that brought O'Neal to Phoenix is one of the most unexpected in NBA history. The Suns are taking on a contract that pays O'Neal 20 million dollars each of the next two seasons.
O'Neal has been out for two weeks with a hip injury and underwent an MRI exam in Miami on Tuesday. He flew to Phoenix Wednesday for the physical. The Suns believe whatever ails the big guy can be cured by their doctors and training staff.
The Suns will send Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Miami in exchange for O'Neal, who is averaging a career-low 14.2 points.
"It wasn't anything that went on between Shaq and I that would cause this," said Heat Head Coach Pat Riley. "We simply looked at the big picture, where we are today, and we need to build around Dwyane, and everything we do now moving forward is about building around Dwyane."
A four-time NBA champion, O'Neal entered this season talking about how he wanted to win at least one more title, saying his "legacy" wouldn't be complete unless he left the game with at least five rings. In Phoenix he will be teamed up with All-Star guard Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire. The move may radically change the Western Conference, where O'Neal played before coming to Miami.
The Heat have lost 19 of their last 20 games and have the NBA's worst record at 9-37 -- meaning the 2006 NBA champions are almost a lock to miss the postseason. Phoenix, meanwhile, entered Tuesday with a 11/2-game lead over New Orleans and Dallas in the race for the best record in the Western Conference.
To this point, O'Neal's year has been largely forgettable.
Miami's record has plummeted, O'Neal is going through a divorce and his scoring average is nearly 11.5 points below his 25.6 career mark. He suffered a bruised hip on Dec. 22 and has missed four of the past five weeks while trying to recover.
It's his second straight difficult season: O'Neal missed much of the 2006-07 campaign with a knee injury and finished that year with career-lows in games (40), scoring (17.3 points), rebounds (7.4), minutes (28.4) and free-throw percentage (.422).
"There were a lot of problems last year, but whenever you start talking about your problems, it turns into excuses," O'Neal told The AP in October, shortly before this season began. "And I've never made an excuse. So you won't ever hear me mention it again, unless of course you ask me. But there were a lot of problems last year."
Marion asked to be traded before the season began but has avoided talk of the subject since then. He is set to make $17 million next season, the final year of his contract, but can opt out of the deal and become a free agent.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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