How the Miami Heat’s blockbuster trade gamble in 2004 led to a title two years later

Dorell Wright speaks on the sudden shift after the trade

As a youngster on the Heat from the 2004 NBA Draft, Dorell Wright was initially set to play a big role in his first season. That did not materialize because the Heat pulled off the trade for O’Neal.

Wright did not get to play much in his six seasons with the Heat, but he learned plenty of lessons during his time there. He had fun because he was part of the 2006 team that won the championship in his second NBA season.

He did not play many games in his first two seasons, appearing in only 23 regular-season games in total. However, Wright did get to play 66 games and started 19 times in their disastrous 2006-07 championship defense campaign.

In the following 2007-08 season, O’Neal was struggling, even in practice. That led to Pat Riley sending him to the Phoenix Suns, where he would have a slight resurgence.

Years after he retired from the NBA, Wright opened up about what it felt like when the Heat made the trade.

“It was cool because when I got drafted, it was a young team. They were looking at me like this dude will be next to D-Wade for years to come. Once they made that trade for Shaq, it kinda changed everything,” Wright said on the Knuckleheads Podcast about the Heat’s 2004 trade working out two years later.

“It was love from day one. I learned so much from that dude. Good and bad. We all know Shaq is the ultimate prankster, so just having him around, learning from him, and learning from all the veteran guys we got that year was amazing, man.”

The blockbuster gamble paid off for the Heat

Despite the Heat’s drop after the 2006 championship, the franchise established that it could win an NBA championship. They were a team that was good enough to win a championship during a decade dominated by the San Antonio Spurs and Lakers.

Since then, the Heat have established a culture of which they are proud. Riley has been the driving force of that as a head coach and the team president. That extended to their dominance in the early 2010s when they reached the NBA Finals four times and won two championships.

Wade and O’Neal are seen as legends in Miami because of their contributions to the franchise. Miami is proof that taking the big swing can work out, not only for the short-term future in the NBA, but for the long-term future as well.