National Basketball Association

Pat Riley claims Shaquille O'Neal was Miami Heat's best front office move

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Pat Riley believes that acquiring Shaquille O’Neal in a 2004 trade was more important to the Miami Heat’s history than the Big Three in 2010.

Miami Heat team president Pat Riley gave the ultimate compliment to Shaquille O’Neal on Friday before O’Neal is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in a week. Riley believes firmly that trading for O’Neal in 2004 was the greatest front office move made by the Heat.

Riley told the Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman, “Shaq’s acquistion was bigger than any acquisition that we ever made, including the Big Three.” Winderman points out that Riley believes gaining O’Neal was more important that getting LeBron James, Chris Bosh, or Alonzo Mourning.

This is an unpopular take by Riley, but he’s not exactly wrong. Riley would later add to Winderman that signing O’Neal was “the seminal to really make us legitimate. He turned our franchise around. He gave us real legitimacy.”

Keep in mind before O’Neal’s arrival, the Heat were never NBA Championship contenders, despite having elite talent like Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Sr., and Dwyane Wade. Miami was an expansion era team in South Florida.

The Heat had no state income tax and warm weather in South Florida working for them in previous free agency pitches, but didn’t become a marquee destination until after O’Neal arrived via trade.

Knowing that O’Neal was growing increasingly frustrated with a demanding Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, Riley wisely pounced on acquiring O’Neal in a 2004 trade with the Lakers to get the last few years of his basketball prime.

The Big Three era in South Beach may never be replicated again. The Heat reached the NBA Finals all four seasons when Bosh, James, and Wade played together, winning it all in 2012 and 2013. One does have to consider Riley’s argument carefully. He did build the Heat into an Eastern Conference power. He might not be wrong in all honesty.