The NBA is a complicated business and relationships between fans and players are often tough to comprehend. Even winning a ring and playing a starring role in said championship might not guarantee eternal fan favorite status for even one of the most popular players of all time.
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Shaquille O’Neal experienced such a turn of events in his career with respect to his Miami Heat tenure. Despite being one of the most popular athletes of all time, and helping the franchise win its first championship, things did get ugly between the fans and Shaq at Miami.
A year after being traded from the Heat, O’Neal had made some statements that didn’t sit well with Heat fans. Things certainly didn’t get better when The Big Diesel knocked fan favorite Dwyane Wade down in his return to “Wade County”.
“Shaq, you suck” chants bellowed at the Heat arena after O’Neal knocked Wade down.
Leaving a franchise on bad terms is bad. Criticizing old teammates and management after leaving is worse. Hurting the face of one’s old franchise at his old home arena probably warrants calls for one’s head.
This is exactly what went down in the relationship between Miami Heat and Shaquille O’Neal. After a coming together which had the attention of the league, things went smoothly, until they just didn’t anymore.
When O’Neal was traded to the Phoenix Suns, the Heat had the worst record in the league. The fact that they had won the championship only a couple of years back made this even more alarming. But things went downhill in unceremonious fashion. Shaq recalled the situation in Shaq Uncut in great detail and narrated the animosity he faced.
“I did a pretty good job of putting the Miami Heat in my rearview mirror even though everyone wanted to talk about them all the time. My first trip back to Miami wasn’t until March 4, 2009, so I had been gone more than a year. I wasn’t expecting a parade or another key to the city. They booed the crap out of me, which was what I figured would happen. At one point in the game DWade drove to the hole, so naturally, I knocked him on his back and stood over him. I didn’t help him up and that got the crowd really fired up, so they started chanting, “Shaq, you suck!” revealed O’Neal about the situation that became at Miami.”
Shaq had gone on to call out certain teammates even in bitter Miami digs.
The vitriol wasn’t unwarranted at Miami. Despite his stature, O’Neal did make some statements that certainly turned the fans against him. Taking DWade down might have been the peak of his acts of apparent Heat remorse. But calling out former teammates Chris Quinn and Ricky Davis for instance and the lack of quality Miami surrounded him with, certainly triggered issues.
Even ‘The Godfather” Pat Riley wasn’t immune to criticism by O’Neal after his departure. All factors combined together to ruin what was otherwise a fruitful relationship between player and franchise. Not all stories are meant to have fairytale endings. O’Neal certainly didn’t get one at Miami despite a promising start to the narrative.
