Nearly two decades ago, the Miami Heat were able to forever turn their franchise around in the Pat Riley era by pulling off the blockbuster trade to acquire then-three-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal in a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Even though O’Neal was starting to head into the downside of his Hall-of-Fame-caliber career in the league, the superstar center was the ideal addition to the squad and ended up becoming a vital piece of the dynamic duo with Dwyane Wade.
After slimming down and being seemingly rejuvenated by the trade after a very public beef with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, O’Neal was a man possessed in Miami and had two incredible initial seasons with the team.
On this day 19 years ago, O’Neal was officially traded to the Heat by the Lakers and a new era began in Miami, via Ballislife on Twitter.
SUPERMAN IN MIAMI 🔥
19 years ago today, the Lakers traded Shaq to the Heat. He guaranteed he was going to bring Miami their first NBA Championship. In 2005, he was 2nd in MVP voting. In 2006, the Heat won the NBA Finals. pic.twitter.com/N37kkU9Unb
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) July 14, 2023
Although O’Neal didn’t have a ton of success in Miami as he was eventually traded to the Phoenix Suns in 2008, the veteran center lived up to his word by delivering a title, which was the first in franchise history.
Since then, the Heat have been a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference with the franchise consistently being a playoff squad with Wade leading the way and were ultimately able to win two more titles when LeBron James and Chris Bosh arrived in 2010.
Despite being unable to win another title in the post-LeBron era, Miami is always a tough team to beat in the East and has been able to reload its roster time and time again with “Heat culture” becoming a thing with Erik Spoelstra as the leader on the sideline and Riley calling the shots in the front office.
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