Shaq retires from the NBA

Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement from basketball today, via the social media tool Tout. "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." Lakers spokesman John Black said soon after that the team would surely retire his #34 jersey at some point. The LAT's columnist Mark Heisler remembers O'Neal warmly:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played against Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing.

By the middle of Shaq's career, the Age of Giants had become the Age of Giant, and he was it.

In the real distinction between him and everyone else, he was the giant who kept the NBA laughing.

He was a joke waiting to happen with his nicknames (Big Aristotle, Big Pythagorean Theorem, Shaq-fu, Diesel) and one-liners ("I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.")

He wasn't always easy to cover, Heisler observes: "Being a little on the sensitive, or insecure side, he often went weeks without talking. Of course, by the playoffs, he'd be in the interview room, charming everyone's socks off, writing their stories."