Shaquille O'Neal Traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers

Shaquille O'Neal has been moved from the Phoenix Suns to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic, plus the 46th pick in this year's NBA draft.

The trade was rumored to have happened at the trade deadline, but it did not. The Cavs made no moves at the trade deadline and fell short of their goal of winning the NBA Championship.

Danny Ferry's first big move in the summer of 2009 is to add a dominant center. The matchup between the centers in the Eastern Conference Finals was thoroughly dominated by the Orlando Magic.

Two of the biggest names in the summer of 2010 free agent class are now both on the Cleveland roster. For the first time, Cleveland has a legitimate superstar to put next to LeBron James. 

The stage is now set for an even more interesting season in 2009-2010. Shaquille and Stan Van Gundy will see each other a few times. LeBron might be bringing Shaquille with him into an NBA Finals matchup.

I do believe that David Stern is pulling for some, if not all, of these things to come to be.

I hope the Cavs keep going. Bring in Grant Hill from Phoenix as well; really stick it to the Suns for no reason. Make a push for Hedo Turkoglu or Lamar Odom. 

The deal for Shaq was also made possible by the Chicago Bulls. They gave Ben Wallace that monster contract and unloaded it on Cleveland. Now the Cavs are shipping it out to Phoenix, and it was close enough to Shaquille's behemoth contract that only Pavlovic had to be shipped as well.

That 46th pick isn't worth too much in what is a very weak draft this year.

Shaq had to move from the East to the West to win his first three rings. He went back East to win No. 4. He went back West looking for No. 5, was found wanting, and now he is heading back East to again seek his fifth title.

The Shaq Tanker and the L Train just might be heading back to the NBA Finals.