Shaq's #34 Jersey to be Retired by the Lakers During the 2012-13 Season

Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Earvin
"Magic" Johnson, James Worthy, Gail Goodrich, Chick Hearn..., and now
Shaquille O'Neal.

At some point next season, Shaquille O'Neal is set to become forever enshrined as a Lakers legend. The Lakers will retire Shaq's #34 jersey, joining the ranks of Jerry, Wilt, Elgin, Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Goodrich, and the legendary voice of Chick. While retiring numbers is nothing new in sports, the Lakers quite simply do not fuck around when it comes to retired numbers. Some teams retire #6 for the "Sixth Man" the fans. Some teams retire numbers of players who spent less than 5 years with the team. Some teams retire numbers of players who are only vaguely remembered even by their own fans.

The Lakers have a very simple policy to retiring numbers: Champion Hall of Famers ONLY. Ordinarily, the Lakers wait for people to enter the Hall of Fame before the retire their number, but they're going to make an exception for Shaq, presumably so they can claim they retired Shaq's number first before the Miami Heat or Orlando Magic can. It's a very Jerry Buss-like move and one that is simply classic Lakers. Since retiring, Shaq has also gotten along much better with Kareem, the two coming to an understanding that Kareem did not wish to interfere with Shaq's style, although Shaq would have loved to hear input from the legend. Shaq's number retiring will also result in the first time 3 consecutive numbers will be retired by the Lakers: 32, 33, and 34.