Fire Shaq Coming Back Next Season

Will Shaq be back? He will if someone offers him a deal.

In a recent interview with ESPN's Marc Stein, Shaquille O'Neal said this season is "probably not" his last even though it probably should be.

With Shaq having played in only 36 games this season and out indefinitely with a strained Achilles/hip, it seems pretty clear that he should limp away from basketball. Most athletes really don't care about "tarnishing" their legacy, so that's not likely to convince Shaq to hang 'em up. Other teams, however, should have no interest in Shaq since he hasn't played more than 53 games since the 2008-2009 season and this year marks the second time in two years his body has broken down in the run-up to the playoffs.

Even if Shaq were to suddenly regain his health (which, at age 39, isn't likely since he's played in over 1,200 games), he is simply not anything resembling the dominant force he once was.  He hasn't averaged more than 30 minutes per game since the 2005-2006 season, hasn't averaged double-digit rebounds per game since the 2004-2005 season and he hasn't approached his career average of 23.7 points per game since he had 20.0 in 2005-2006.

Sure he's inexpensive and probably still draws some fans on his name alone, but if he were so useful to the Celtics they wouldn't have traded for Nenad Krstic in February. For what Shaq has given the Celtics this season (20 minutes, 5 rebounds and 9 points per game), the Celtics could have replaced him with career bust Darko Milicic, who's averaging almost 25 minutes per game along with 9 points and 5 rebounds and is only 25 years old. 

Shaq got divorced in 2010, so he could probably use some money and won't walk away unless he's forced into retirement. NBA teams should have the sense not to sign him next season.