Shaq's announcement: Four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal will formally announce his retirement from basketball Friday during a news conference at his Florida home.
O'Neal first said Wednesday afternoon that he was going to hang up his jersey. The 39-year-old posted a link to a video on his Twitter account.
In a brief message he said: "We did it. Nineteen years, baby. I want to thank you very much. That's why I'm telling you first. I'm about to retire. Love you. Talk to you soon."
O'Neal has been dogged by injuries in the latter stages of his career and played only 37 games for the Boston Celtics this season after struggling with an Achilles tendon problem.
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My memory gets fuzzy somewhere in between the day Michael Jordan cried while cradling his first NBA title with the Chicago Bulls and Shaquille O’Neal breaking the entire backboard and hoop apparatus after a hellacious dunk in the NBA with the Orlando Magic.
Nineteen years, six teams and many shattered backboards later (until the league made them Shaq-proof), the Big Aristotle announced his retirement from the NBA Wednesday — on Twitter no less.
But I guess NBA observers should have expected it to end the way it did, seeing as Shaq was one of the first professional athletes on Twitter and has had plenty to do with the popularity of the social networking site.
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Or was it simply because he wanted to play for the Lakers and be a big star ... Short stuff: Other observations from Shaq's retirement news conference: He ...