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Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers holds the MVP trophy and the Larry O'Brien Trophy for winning the NBA Championship 19 June, 2000, after game six of the NBA Finals at Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Credit: Vince Bucci/AFP/Getty Images)
Shaquille O’Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers holds the MVP trophy and the Larry O’Brien Trophy for winning the NBA Championship 19 June, 2000, after game six of the NBA Finals at Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Credit: Vince Bucci/AFP/Getty Images)

In his busy retirement from basketball, Shaquille O’Neal said, he often fretted over the Basketball Hall of Fame. Would he get in the first year he was eligible?

“I used to ask [Charles] Barkley, ‘How long?’” O’Neal said. “‘What year is this?’”

As if O’Neal, one of the most uniquely talented players in NBA history, had any reason to worry. He ranks the sixth of all time in offensive rebounds (4,209), seventh in points scored (28,596) and eighth in blocks (2,732). He is a four-time NBA champion — three times with the Lakers — a three-time NBA Finals MVP, a one-time NBA MVP and a 15-time all-star.

On Monday, it became official: O’Neal was announced as part of a 10-member class to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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