Shaquille O’Neal says jersey retirement with the Magic is more special than with the Lakers or Heat.

In a recent interview on “Inside the NBA”, Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal spoke about his Orlando Magic jersey retirement ceremony, which took place today against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Magic unfortunately lost the game, but were still the big winners of the night after Shaq called today’s event the best of all the ceremonies so far.

“Of all the ceremonies, this one is the most exciting,” said Shaq. “Orlando’s only been here four years, he’s been in the final once, he’s gone to the ceremony once… With LSU, I knew it was going to happen… with the Lakers, I kind of forced it to happen because I wanted my name to be there. Orlando, I played here for four years, I was in the Finals once, I went to the ceremony and saw it, and nobody else had a jersey … I never thought this day would happen. It means a lot to me because a lot of great players have played here, including Penny Hadaway, Vince Carter, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway Jr, T-Mac … It’s definitely a great honour to be the first.”

The Orlando Magic recently made Shaq the first player in history to have his jersey retired by the franchise, and Magic CEO Alex Martins cited O’Neal’s four-year stint as the “foundation” for his storied career. Although he was only with the team for four years, Shaq revolutionised the Orlando Magic franchise and gave them a hope they had not had before.

Almost solely on the strength of Shaq’s greatness and dominance, the Magic made the Finals in 1995 and were poised to take the East before his trade to the Lakers the following year changed the team’s trajectory. Shaq never returned to Orlando after the trade and went on to win back-to-back championships as the team rebuilt. As great as the success between the two was, O’Neal still seems to have warm feelings about his time with the Magic and the successes he achieved during that period.

Shaquille O’Neal is the third player to have his jersey retired by three different teams:

Shaquille O’Neal may be best remembered for his time with the Lakers, but that is only one part of a rich career. After making the All-Star team in each of his first four seasons, Shaq joined Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and the results were extremely impressive. Shaq won three championships and three Finals MVP titles in a purple and gold jersey, averaging 35.9 points, 15.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game at the height of the dynasty. The Lakers retired number 34 in April 2013.

Shaquille O’Neal spent the last part of his prime years in Miami, and that was enough to win one last title with Dwyane Wade. Even though Shaq was no longer the best player in the league (or even on his own team), he was still very dangerous on the court and good enough to help the Heat win the title in 2006. In December 2016, his number 32 was retired when his jersey was held aloft for all the world to see. After leaving the Heat, O’Neal was already having the best of times and he spent the rest of his time chasing the rim to catch Kobe. But with three retired numbers now, there’s no doubt that Shaq is one of the best to ever do it, and we may never see his level of dominance again.