Shaquille O’Neal, a giant figure, was considered one of the most dominant players of his era. The Hall of Famer earned numerous achievements in his iconic 19-year career, including four NBA championships and the 1999-2000 MVP awards, among other accolades.
Shaquille O’Neal played for six teams in the league, including a one-year spell with LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers before his 2011 retirement. Recently, the big man has reminisced on his playing days with LeBron, which ended in unfortunate fashion.
Shaq reminds fans of his playing days with LeBron
Recently, Shaquille reminisced about his Cavaliers’ stint, playing alongside LeBron James. After a disappointing 2008-2009 campaign with the Phoenix Suns, Shaquille O’Neal was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009 when the Suns failed to make the playoffs. Shedding light on his time with LeBron, Shaquille shared a video of their matchup on his Instagram story.
The Phoenix Suns’ decision to trade Shaquille was motivated by the goal of lowering their payroll. In return, they received Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, $500,000, and a 2010 second-round pick. The trade aimed to spark hope among Cavs fans, who believed it was time to secure a championship with Shaq joining the team.
While LeBron on the other hand, had inspired the Cavaliers’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals, only to experience a disappointing 4-2 loss to Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic in 2009. The news of Shaquille’s arrival raised the hopes of Cavaliers’ faithful. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ then-general manager, Danny Ferry, expressed his excitement for Shaquille’s arrival, emphasizing how rare and unique it was to secure a top-level player like Shaquille.
Shaq-LeBron duo’s failure to bring success to Cavs
When the duo of Shaquille and LeBron teamed up in 2009 at the Cleveland Cavaliers, they were at different stages of their career. At the time Shaquille was 37 years old, compared to a younger and energetic LeBron, who was just 25 years old, and entering his peak, in his Cleveland Cavaliers final season.
While LeBron was ringless when Shaquille joined him, Shaquille at that time, had lost almost all of his playing skills, and became only a shell of his glory days. The duo managed to reach the Eastern Conference semi-finals in the 2009-2010 campaign but had an unfortunate loss to the Boston Celtics in six games.
Shaquille, whose on-court outputs with the Cavaliers were comparatively poor, especially when compared to his performances in the 1992-1993 and 2002-2003 seasons, was eventually traded to the Boston Celtics the following season, which turned out to be his last in the league. Perhaps if a younger Shaquille had paired up with the much younger LeBron James at the time, things could have been different.
