Shaq O'Neal Possibly Done For The Season

In a recent game against the Boston Celtics, Shaquille O'Neal injured his right thumb when it was hit by Glen Davis of the Celtics who was attempting to block his shot. Shaq has previously injured the same thumb in 1995, when he was playing for the Orlando Magic. The injury had kept him off the roster for 22 days.

In case you have not already heard, Shaq is quite possibly the most dominant player in recent history. The seven footer has an very long list of accolades such as  four NBA Championships, 3 Finals MVP awards, a regular season MVP award, a Rookie Of The Year award, 15 all star appearances, and two scoring titles. The Cavaliers acquired him recently to contest with other star post players such as Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, and Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol, both of the Los Angelos Lakers. Both of those two teams seemed like the biggest obstacles bewteen the Cavaliers and an NBA Championship. (Orlando defeated the Cavaliers in the playoffs last year; and the Lakers were NBA Champions last year.)

Even though Shaq is 37, and is starting to show the effects of his 18 years in the NBA. (His season averages are no where near what they used to be.) Nonetheless, he has  proved his worth to the Cavaliers by being a key factor in the 5 games the Cavs have played against the Lakers or Magic this year, 4 of which the Cavaliers have won. With recent addition Antawn Jamison, another quality post scorer, the Cavaliers should be fine until the playoffs without Shaq, but they might have trouble against the Magic or Lakers without him.

Although the Cavs are not sure when Shaquille will recover for from the injury and resulting surgery, but there are only seven weeks left until the playoffs start, and surgeries like this typically take from six to eight weeks to recover from. If the Cavs don't end up winning it all this year, the face of the franchise, (And maybe even the NBA!) will see another reason to test the waters of free agency this summer. Yep, that's right, if the Cavs don't win a championship, don't expect Lebron James to stick around.

Miscellaneous Piece Of Information About Shaq: In addition to being a legendary basketball player, Shaq is also a rapper, actor, reserve police officer and U.S. Deputy Marshal.