Shaquille O’ Neal has done it all and then some. The 7’1 big man has won four NBA Championships; he has been the NBA Finals MVP three times, he is a 15 time NBA All-Star, and he was league MVP in 2000. Those are just his on the court achievements. Off the court, Shaq has released four rap albums, starred in two reality shows, and starred in movies such as Steel and Kazaam.

Now O’Neal, at thirty eight years old and finishing his eighteenth season in the league is talking about retiring in the near future. Shaq said that he will only play two more years at the most. O’Neal also made it a point to say that when he does retire it will be for good and that there will be no second or third retirements ala Brett Favre.

"I know I will play in the NBA next season," O'Neal said. "International? No. The good thing about me and my career is I came in, did it my way, did more than expected. For every athlete or every great person, there's a time when it has to end. When and if it ever ends it will be very graciously.”

"We're going to have a big party. We're going to have a ceremony and the next thing I'll be waiting for is the entrance into the place where your name will never be forgotten."

The place that Shaq is referring to at the end of the quote is obviously the Hall of Fame. I never like to use the word “lock” but Shaq is one of those players who are as close to a lock as you can get in regards to being granted entry into the Hall of Fame. O’Neal has been one of the most dominant if not most dominant player to play his position during his era. He has numerous individual accomplishments such as being league MVP and a two time NBA scoring champion, but he also has four NBA Championship rings as well.

Shaquille made it clear though that he would only come back if he thought he had a legitimate chance to win his fifth NBA Championship. This means that O’Neal will only play with a team he considers to be a contender to win a title and he also said he has no intention of playing internationally. One team Shaq brought up specifically when talking about the subject on Jimmy Kimmel Live was the Boston Celtics.

"The Celtics would be a good program," Shaq said.

As of right now no specific teams have made contract offers or have been in serious negotiations with Shaquille. Shaq will most likely either receive the right offer from the right franchise or the big man may retire. The right offer I speak of would be a position as a role player on a franchise that is a serious title contender similar to the situation he was in with Cleveland the last two seasons. If that offer doesn’t come along then it appears that Shaquille will move on and have no regrets when he leaves the game.

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