The Orlando Magic retire Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey number 👏 | NBA on ESPN

The Orlando Magic retire Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey number 👏 | NBA on ESPN

[Applause] and at Center 71 from LSU number 32 Cha David steel thank you thank you very much welcome to the first jersey retirement ceremony for the Orlando Magic this season we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of Orlando Magic basketball we couldn’t be more excited for our program this evening it it is really going to be special we appreciate

Everyone and attend that stayed and we thank everyone around the world that’s tuned in to watch tonight as well we’re grateful that so many of Shaquille’s former teammates were able to come out and celebrate with us this evening as well so many familiar faces In This Crowd especially here right in

Front of me and it’s so great to have everybody together again tonight back in 1988 I was broadcasting games for the Florida Gator and then in the Orlando Magic the Orlando Magic Came Calling and I tell you the opportunity to to get a front row seat every night

To watch the greatest athletes in Pro Sports it was too tempting to turn down those early years here here in Orlando and downtown Orlando were truly magical a preseason win against the defending NBA champion Pistons was celebrated like game seven of the NBA Finals we had the

Cat man we had ice we had Reggie we had Nick and Dennis and Skyles and JT Money we had them all but one thing we didn’t have we didn’t have very much of wins those first three years they were few and far between but that began to

Change on the Fateful night of May 17th 1992 at the NBA draft lottery Pat Williams who’s here tonight he sat at the desk in caucus with 10 other NBA officials Pat tells the story that he had a brown paper sack under the table in his lap inside the sack was a

Magic jersey with the name O’Neal on the back you know it turns out that as Pat tells it the other 10 NBA team reps also had a shack jersey with them too but when commissioner David Stern called out that number one pick it was Pat Williams

Who was able to hold up that magic jersey for the world to see and and and everyone in the room everyone around the basketball World knew how impactful that Lottery luck would be for theirl of Magic on the court Shaquille O’Neal a ferocious force of nature the likes of which had never

Been seen better than seven feet tall sleek chiseled kening around the court throwing caution to the wind like there was no tomorrow that rookie sees it sha averaged 23.4 points rookie season 13.9 rebounds and three and a half block shots per game he was he was an NBA Allstar as a rookie he

Was Rookie of the Year even finished seventh in the MVP voting in his time in Orlando he terrorized and dominated opponents brought down a basket in Phoenix then later that season absolutely ripped one a basket standard down in New Jersey almost took out a couple of Net players

In the process and most importantly the magic began winning some games a lot of games from 21 wins the year before his arrival to 41 wins his rookie [Applause] season thank you David and good evening everyone magic fans tonight we celebrate a legend a legend that is our own a

Legend who began his career right here in Orlando tonight we celebrate one of the greatest players in NBA history who firmly put the Orlando Magic on the map in the very early years of our existence when the magic won the number one pick in 1992 draft lottery we knew he was our

Pick Shaquille O’Neal we all knew him as Shaq but he went by many names sha Fu sha diesel the big Shack Rock The Big Aristotle the big barishnikov sha Daddy and of course our original Superman after we drafted him in 1992 Shaq immediately began to establish

His Legend as not just one of the greatest basketball players ever but as a pop culture icon it was evident as soon as he stepped off the plane from the draft right here in Orlando I remember meeting him as he stepped off the plane and there he was wearing a

Pair of Mickey Mouse ears Shaq the Entertainer had arrived and and from there The Legend on and off the court skyrocketed the media tension that surrounded sha and our franchise immediately brought International Acclaim to our city everywhere the magic traveled it was like traveling with rock stars crowds of hundreds at our hotels

On the road regardless of what time in the early hour of the morning that we arrived Shaq had put the magic on the map in just the first few years of our existence Shaq made it an immediate impact on the court increasing our WIS from 21 and 922 before he arrived and to

41 in the 9293 season just missing the Playoffs due to a tiebreaker from there our team and Shaq’s career was of and running his play on the court led us to the 1995 NBA Finals one of the fastest appearances by a new franchise in the NBA finals in NBA history

This was the foundation of a legendary career as he won NBA Rookie of the Year in his first season and went on to lead us to our first franchise playoff appearance in 1994 the first four of his 15 NBA All-Star appearances were with us as well as making his first all NBA teams

Three times during his time here in Orlando four times he was named NBA Rookie of the month here not to mention the numerous NBA players of the week and NBA player of the month awards that he won right here in Orlando the foundation of a Hall of Fame

Career started right here today sha still ranks amongst the magic alltime leaders in several categories including block shots rebounds free throws made [Applause] field goals made and points scored his 27.2 points per game average is still the second highest in team history and of course shakon just put the magic on the

Map with his play but also with his personality as soon as Shaq arrived in Orlando he became a pop icon with his side gigs as a rapper movie star late night show guest and of course course is practical jokes Shaq I will never forgive you for the

Day that you wrapped me up in medical medical tape after practice and left me at midcourt just because you didn’t want to talk to the media that day but who could forget the early morning that we arrived in Sacramento on a back-to-back West Coast game and you

Disguised yourself in a wig a long coat and hat and completely faked out the hundreds of fans that were at the hotel and slid into the hotel unnoticed completely unnoticed hard to believe it but if anyone could pull it off it was Shaq and of course who could forget the broken

Baskets Shaq were proud to call you our own and proud to honor you as the first player of magic history to have their number retired in the rafters here at the Kia Center as well as one of only three players in NBA history history to have their number retired by three different

Teams alongside Pete marovich and wit [Applause] Chamberlain [Applause] Thank you David thank you all for joining us for this very special evening on behalf of the entire Boss family many who are joined us here this evening we could not be more excited about this special celebration sha you represent Magic basketball in so many ways and we are

Honored to further cement your legacy here this evening I know a couple important people who wish they were here tonight Philip Harrison and my father rich divos but I know that they are smiling down on us as we recognize your incredible career and we’re also so glad to to welcome your mother Dr

Lucille O’Neal and your family to celebrate this occasion with us also it is also amazing to see all these people other Orlando basketball Legends and members of our magic family in this building to show respect and gratitude for the impact that you have had on their lives and the lives of so many

Others in recognition of this tremendous achievement and your now retired number 32 as we all know the deos Family Foundation is proud to present a [Applause] We we trust that your legacy has only just begun thanks and congratulations [Applause] Shaq I’m going to go in a different direction right now before I get into you as a basketball player I want to let everybody in this building know the impact that you’ve had on me and my family my wife Kay and I our children we’re all Avid tennis

Players Kay and I getting up in years a little bit we make sure that we all have a lifetime supply of Icy Hot to take care of us after we get done playing tennis we have a lot of cars in our family too and every one of those cars insured by the

General and every Friday night when we order those shakaroni pizzas you can only drink Pepsi with your shakaroni pizza now you were pushing Buick for a while and I went and looked at the Buick but I was like n that’s just not me me

So I went out and bought a Kia I hope you don’t mind big fella you came into the league your combination of size strength and athleticism was something that really hadn’t been seen in the NBA until you came in your agility your talent your basketball IQ you were a game changer

From the day that you came into the NBA together with your teammates our ride to the 95 finals was the 95 playoffs culminating with an appearance in the 95 finals galvanized this entire city of Orlando at that time which was not an NBA City and established the magic as an

Elite franchise in the NBA good evening Orlando good evening Orlando I’m so happy to be back home this is home to me so thank you guys so much for making me feel at home right now I want to thank first and foremost the Theos family they were so

Influential in making all of this happen so thank you guys so much for everything that you did for us and this whole entire crew thank you big fell my brother first off man I want to congratulate you tonight is is definitely deserving but I want to go

Even further not the only Champion you but the father you are and the son that you are to see in your family right there this is sha family and his beautiful mother give it up for them it’s bigger than basketball it really is I also want to congratulate you on

Your career man I wanted to win a championship with you so badly but I did admire everything that you did moving forward I did everything that you did from when I first saw you when you got here when I got here you were just a big that ran the floor exceptionally well dunked

Everything and just intimidated everybody to a jump hook and then a fade away you started working on your game every single year and I started seeing it and I knew that you were going to keep going higher and higher every year because that’s that’s how you drove

Yourself but you also drove me in in the same way you made me great watching you become great there’s no way I make a first team all NBA there’s no way I make an All-Star team there’s no way I want a gold medal in 96 with you without you being there

To help thrust me and keep driving me to the next level so I I owe my entire career to having you in my life bro just to see you the funny thing is you know Shaq was telling the story of about blue chips and who is this actor you know he’s just

He’s so charismatic and funny but I made sure every day on the movie Blue Chips because we played regular basketball we didn’t act that I didn’t shoot one ball all summer I passed him the ball every time I knew where my bread was buttered and I wanted to be an Orlando Magic

Player to play with him in his career because I love Magic Johnson I know he idolized Kareem Abdul Jabar and I felt like we could do some serious things together here in Orlando and we did it was special being here with with him it sure was I just hope that you cherish this

Day with your family with your former teammates myself it was an honor to be here I wouldn’t miss it for the world I have to leave tomorrow to have a game I’m the coach at Memphis now if you guys don’t know I wouldn’t miss I wouldn’t

Have missed it for the word brother I love you man man oh man Orlando how you feel tonight Orlando how do you feel tonight so I’m going start off because my mom couldn’t be here tonight so I’m going to start off thanking Mama Lucille please stand up and give Mama Lucille a

Lot of love cuz she raised this big knucklehead love you mom my mom told you to tell you love you baby the next person I want to thank is Pat Williams because being in Philadelphia he flew down to Central Florida and convinced David Stern made rest easy that you guys would love NBA

Basketball Pat Williams thank you thank you I also want to thank a gentleman who believed in myself who believed in Penny who believed in Nick and Shaq to get this thing started John Gabriel without John Gabriel believing in us this franchise doesn’t get started to get going the way it’s

Going so the biggest question I’ve gotten since we knew this jersey retirement night was coming is what was Shaq’s impact well I think we all know that tvwise winning wise becoming internationally known is because of him David steel where are you you over here so David steel and I had a show called

The Dennis Scott show he was my host and we’re at Shaq’s house being foolish doing what we do my phone rings and my assistant says where are you I said I’m chilling I’m at Shacks house we’re we’re supposed to be at a show it’s the show tonight I’m like

Oh snap Shack said I’ll be back runs upstairs to his closet comes downstairs with two roster farian wigs and we show up to the show hey man hey David man we’re sorry we’re late man sha TI Flo down here the flat tire am I lying if you know I haven’t talked to

Much about basketball because that’s how we connected we connected as men first as young crazy kids at 22 years old basketball was basketball but being people and having fun with life our mothers being best friends now our kids communicate ner friends to me that’s bigger than [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Basketball [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Forever a magic Legend number 32 Shak [Applause] [Applause] Lo [Applause] I want to say uh thank you so much I have many Wonder wonderful magic magic memories there’s no other place I would have wanted to start my career Orlando Orlando will forever have a special place in my heart it’s a real it’s cuam get it

Right it’s a real honor to be the first Orlando Magic player to get his jersey retire although I would have expected to be number two Nick Anderson come up here always thought if they were going to do retired jerseys you should be the first you the first Superstar here in

Orlando I appreciate you you know for sacrificing for me you could have took the shot every time but you threw it in so again so I I definitely want to come back here when your jersey gets your tired so thank you very much stay up here Penny Hardway get up

Here Penny you told a lie in your speech you said that you wouldn’t have been you if it wasn’t for me I could say the same thing brother uh I owe you everything you know I didn’t know who who he was and then we started shooting

Blue Chips and you know was in my contract my agent lard model we put in our contract that we play ball every day and I went to him I said who is this damn actor throwing me the ball every time is he in the NBA and they said yes

Penny hard away and I can remember Dennis saying hey man you got to go upstairs and you know tell them tell them you want be Hardway so I I called John and I said John you know about this guy Penny hway said well we can’t get

Him I said well John you need to get him so they picked Chris Weber and I was eating some Papa John’s and eating Pepsi and I told my damn house up I was like damn it John and then John and Alex called me said watch this and then they

Said David Stern said they made a trade and you know when Penny came here I know we was going to do some special things so I appreciate you very much and I wouldn’t be here without you so stay up here cuz even though you guys are celebrating me this is definitely our

Night and I want you guys to celebrate this this night with me uh Tracey McGrady is another player but have his jersey retired Dennis Scott get up [Applause] Here we could tell when Dennis was speaking we could tell he was a little drunk but that’s okay special night tonight Dennis was the guy that taught me how to be a professional when I first got here I didn’t know anything about anything me and my greedy family we stayed at the

Airport Hilton our bill was 960,000 and then Dennis came and said hey man you got to get a house I was like I don’t know how to get a house I I thought the magic was going to do that for me so he he introduced me to a realtor got my

Mom and dad a house in Lake Mary I got myself a house in ourworth and he just taught me all to be professional so again guys are celebra me but I wouldn’t be here without you guys especially you guys so again gr Hill is another guy we going have his jersey retired

So you know they had the Ring of ceremony I think four or five years ago and I actually thought I was getting my jersey retired that night and then I went upstairs and we did a little thing a press C like when am I get my jerseys

D I was like no they don’t do that here I was like damn but I meant 32 looks good up there thank you if I had two wishes today if I had two wishes today my first wish would be that my father Sergeant Philip Harrison was here tonight without

Him my success thank you without my father my success and accomplishments in basketball would not have been realized he believed in me even when I struggled to believe in myself he gave me guidance he gave me encourage he gave me discipline he gave me ass whooping so this honor is for him too

And my second wish I wish the legendary Rich Nal was also in attendance he saw potential in the young kid from LSU he took a chance on me and for that I am forever grateful to him your legacy endures sir and your impact on my life will never be

Forgotten also I want to thank Dan DeVos Alex Martins for his recognition special shout out to my mama Lucille for her unwavering support and unconditional love and her ass whing also love you mommy also want to thank my seven children who never stop inspiring me to be a better father and a better Man also want to thank my brother Jamal and my sister Latifa and hopefully my other sister Aisha is in heaven watching this ceremony alongside my father and Mr DeVos I want to thank the whole Orlando Magic organization former teammates here guys come on up here with me everybody come on up Greg Joe

Wolf Todd you used to file the out of me in practice you come on up here too Donald Royal Joe wolf Keith Tower tree Rollins John conat Greg kite all the former te teammates that I play with coaches coach hill come on up here doesn’t coach doesn’t coach here look like Bob

Barker coach I’m not into elderly men but godamn you look beautiful sir and thanks to John Gabriel Pat Williams and I want to thank the fans I know you guys could have been anywhere you stayed for me appreciate you saying thank you for giving me the opportunity to wear the blue and white

Orlando will forever hold a special place in my heart I’ll always be proud to be part of this magic franchise thank you all and I appreciate you very much and thank you guys without you guys there would be no me Greg L all you guys I want you to stand up here

With me cuz it’s never about me it’s about us and I couldn’t be me without you guys especially jtmf money and the MF stands for exactly what you think it stands for jtmf money so I want to appreciate you guys thanks for coming out and to and to the the divos family

Whenever you want me to quit TNT and come back home you give me a call I’ll be here in an instant love you guys what I look like [Applause] n

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