Shaquille O’Neal’s 501-day stint as a Phoenix Sun proved to be the fruit of misguided hope once it ended with unfulfilled promise but no player left such indelible memories in spite of such a brief stint.
O’Neal is being enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his work elsewhere. Only 6 percent of his career points and one of his 15 All-Star selections came as “The Big Cactus.” He still left a size-23 footprint on Phoenix, even though it was not for the success that the Suns gambled would follow by acquiring him from Miami for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks in 2008.