Shaquille O'Neal said Thursday that the Heat told him he won't be traded and he will finish his career with the team. But he might need to begin next season temporarily without Dwyane Wade.
Coach Pat Riley said Wade -- who needs surgery on his left knee and likely on his left shoulder -- will have a procedure on one, and possibly both, next week. Riley was noncommittal about whether Wade will be ready for the start of next season and mentioned the possibility of a six-month recovery, which could stretch into the first two weeks of the regular season.
''We'd like to have everybody ready for training camp,'' Riley said. ``But when you're talking about some surgeries that might take six months, then you can't put a timetable on it, and I won't do it.''
Riley said the knee is the more ''pressing'' of the two injuries and the one Wade ''may address first'' surgically.
O'Neal, who has three years left on his contract at $20 million per season, became the subject of trade speculation this week when Chicago Tribune columnist Sam Smith suggested the Heat might move O'Neal and offered a hypothetical scenario involving Dallas.
That prompted Riley to contact O'Neal. ''I called him and said that's not happening, so get on with your yoga,'' Riley said. ``He's doing yoga, which I like.
``The last thing on our mind right now is to trade him. We want to try to put players around him. Shaq has made this franchise matter. We won a world championship with Shaquille. He's been very good for business and the community. We don't want him to think [he might be traded].''
O'Neal disputed the perception that he believes the regular season doesn't matter -- a perspective Riley has said he won't accept from players.
''I said it didn't matter, but I didn't mean it didn't matter,'' O'Neal said. ``I meant you can win 70, 80 games, but if things are not done correctly, you won't win. . . . Look what happened to Dallas. If you're not prepared in the playoffs, you won't win.''
Riley tried to clarify his recent remark that if O'Neal ''wants to give back $10 million and play half a season, that's fine.'' Riley said he was referring to the ''perception historically'' of O'Neal's viewpoint and added that O'Neal ``comes in shape, stays in shape, wants to win and works hard.''
Smith also wrote that O'Neal encouraged teammates not to play defense so that his defensive shortcomings wouldn't be exposed. O'Neal's reaction?
''Obviously, Sam is the type of guy that hides behind his pen and pad,'' he said. ``I promise you he wouldn't say that to my face in a dark alley where it's just me and him and no witnesses.''
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