Heat plan to retire Shaq’s No. 32 jersey next season
MIAMI — Shaquille O’Neal will become the third Miami Heat player to have his number retired, with the team announcing Tuesday that O’Neal’s No. 32 will join the No. 33 of Alonzo Mourning and No. 10 of Tim Hardaway already raised to the rafters at American-Airlines Arena.
“Shaquille O’Neal is one of the truly elite players in the history of the game and one of the greatest players to ever wear a Heat uniform,” Heat President Pat Riley said in a statement. “He took us to another level as a basketball franchise while leading us to our first NBA championship.
“Retiring his number in the rafters, along with Heat greats Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway, is something we are very proud of.”
O’Neal’s jersey will be raised early next season, with the 2016-17 schedule not to be released until midsummer.
With O’Neal honored for his relatively brief Heat tenure and single championship with the franchise, it makes it all but inevitable the Heat eventually will retire LeBron James’ No. 6, with James spending more time with the franchise and winning two titles in his fourth seasons with the team.
The Heat eventually are expected to retire the No. 3 of Dwyane Wade and No. 40 of Udonis Haslem at the close of their NBA careers. Wade and Haslem both were members of the 2006 Heat championship team with O’Neal, as well as the 2012 and ’13 Heat title teams with James.
The Heat also have jerseys of Michael Jordan and Dan Marino on display at Amercan-Airlines Arena for their overall contributions to sports, but those are not considered retired jerseys by the Heat.
The Heat have yet to retire the jersey of any players who predate Pat Riley’s arrival as team president in 1995.
Two players have worn No. 32 for the Heat since O’Neal’s 2008 departure, Mickell Gladness and James Ennis, with the Heat not holding the number aside, as they did with Mourning’s No. 33 and Hardaway’s No.10 when those players left the team.
The other players to wear No. 32 for the Heat were Tellis Frank, Harold Miner, Billy Owens, James Scott, Blue Edwards Rodney Buford and Tyrone Hill.
O’Neal’s No. 34 has already been retired by the Los Angeles Lakers, with the Orlando Magic having yet to retire the No. 32 he wore there. O’Neal is expected to be voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for induction in September.