Shaq Said No Thanks to Portland in February

Remember all that talk during the trade deadline about bringing Shaq to Portland? According to the big diesel, that was real and he said no. This is basically a juicy gossip article but still intriguing, did Portland really go after Shaq? Here's what O'Neal had to say:

"During the middle of the season, Steve said Portland was interested," said O'Neal. "He said was I interested in going to Portland? I told him no, so he stopped that."

Apparently the Blazers deny this scenario. They are saying it doesn't make sense to bring in Shaq when the Blazers already have Oden and Przybilla. Shaq finishes his statements with this gem:

"They have a young team, and their team is pretty good the way it is," O'Neal said of the Blazers. "When he called me, he didn't mention (Cleveland). He said, 'Portland is really making the move for you.' And I said, `I don't really want to go to Portland."'

Shaq is giving us a little credit, and why would he really want to come here? Cleveland is a better fit and now he is playing with his fourth super star in LeBron James. That's how he rolls.

Pretty interesting, I wonder who is exaggerating or who is flat out lying. I bet the Blazers were interested, but who the heck knows.