FanShot

Insider: bad front office kicked Shaq out of Orlando

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"There are some aspects of Shaq's free agency that I remember like they happened yesterday, and that initial offer is one of them -- $54 million over four years with none of the yearly salaries specified, a far cry from the seven-year, $105 million deals Alonzo Mourning and Juwan Howard, both appreciably inferior players, had just received from the Miami Heat and Washington Bullets, respectively. But that wasn't even the worst part. OK, fine, so the Magic offered $13.5 million per year with no opt-out and Shaq wanted something closer to $20 million per year with an opt-out after year three. It's a low offer, but not the first time two sides have been far apart in initial negotiations. The more baffling part of the call, and I'll never forget this, was that the Magic, I guess in an attempt to create some kind of leverage, actually criticized O'Neal's rebounding and defense. Are you kidding me?"