Shaquille O’Neal announced his retirement from basketball after almost twenty years in the NBA.

The 39-year-old made his announcement on the social networking site Twitter via a video he uploaded after a flurry of sports bets predicting he would hang up his jersey.

The iconic forward enjoyed spells with the Orlando Magic, LA Lakers, Phoenix, Cleveland, Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, his current team.

It was with the Lakers that O’Neal had the most fruitful spell of his career with the Lakers, and won three championships playing alongside Kobe Bryant, with whom he had a tumultuous relationship with.

He also won the championship once during his spell in Miami where he became the sports betting favourite to be named MVP.

There was some controversy surrounding his announcement after a spokesman for the Celtics they hadn’t been informed of his decision.

Speaking at his home in the video, O’Neal said: We did it. Nineteen years baby. I want to thank you very much, that’s why I’m telling you first, I’m about to retire”.

Towards the end of his career Shaq was forced to contend with a serious Achilles injury that constantly troubled him, and revealed he wanted to play on in order not to disappoint Celtic fans, but eventually concluded that it would be impossible to maintain his high standards on court.

“I really thought about coming back but this Achilles is very damaged and if I had it done, the recovery would be so long we’d have the same outcome as this last year - everyone sitting around and waiting for me,” O’Neal said.

“I didn’t want to let people down two years in a row. I didn’t want to hold Boston hostage again.

“I’m letting everybody know now so… the organisation can try to get younger talent. I would love to come back but they say once the Achilles is damaged it’s never the same. I don’t want to take that chance.” He added.

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