Saturday, July 10, 2004
ESPN.com news services
Warm weather. Smaller centers. A star guard. Pat Riley. Life in South Florida sounds mighty nice to Shaq.
A source told ESPN's David Aldridge Saturday that the Lakers center has agreed to accept a proposed trade that would send him to the Miami Heat in exchange for guard Caron Butler and forwards Lamar Odom and Brian Grant.
The trade has not been finalized, but O'Neal has informed both the Lakers and Heat that he will not do anything to hinder the swap and would not opt out of his contract after next season.
The Lakers may be forced to take this proposal, as there are no other prospective deals on which O'Neal has signed off.
Dallas was the early front-runner to acquire O'Neal, but a Mavericks source seemed resigned Saturday to O'Neal's going to Miami. The source said that if the Heat can work out a contract extension for O'Neal when his current deal expires in two years, there is nothing the Mavs can do to thwart the trade.
Miami is one of five cities that O'Neal has told the Lakers would be acceptable to him.
O'Neal apparently agreed to accept the trade after spending part of Saturday morning in Orlando meeting with Heat president Pat Riley and general manager Randy Pfund. Riley, Pfund and O'Neal's representatives met for three hours. O'Neal was not present for the entire meeting, but hit it off immediately with Riley.
"He feels this is the environment he wants," a source who was at the meeting said of O'Neal. Riley "was really good about understanding what Shaquille wanted to accomplish," the source said. "He was a great listener."
According to the source, O'Neal likes how Riley used Kareem Abdul-Jabbar later in Abdul-Jabbar's career and believes a return to the Eastern Conference, with its relative lack of big men, will help extend his career. O'Neal also was excited about the prospect of playing with second-year guard Dwyane Wade, who he feels is a special player.
"You don't have to go back too far to see a guard and Shaquille being able to do some damage, even with role players surrounding them," the source said, referring to O'Neal's early years in the league with Orlando, when he and Penny Hardaway helped lead the Magic to the Finals in 1995.
O'Neal will remain in Orlando until the deal is finalized.
On Friday night, ESPN's Jim Gray reported that the Lakers had OK'd their end of the deal and the decision to make the trade, including either Butler or a first-round pick, was now in the Heat's hands. The Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise had reported Thursday on the initial talks between the teams.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1837581
