Stephen A. Smith Questions Orlando Magic After Retiring Shaquille O'Neal's Jersey

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo feel the Orlando Magic should not have retired Shaquille O'Neal's jersey

NBA great Shaquille O'Neal became the first player in Orlando Magic history to have his jersey retired earlier this week. 

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo were not a fan of the move. Both were critical of it during an appearance on First Take. 

"Let me say this," Smith said. "I understand what the Magic is doing but from a basketball perspective when you talk about retiring jerseys there's usually a significantly lengthier period of time that you spend with the franchise. That's not what happened here." 

In a rarity, Smith and Russo actually agreed on a topic for once. They usually have opposite takes on most subject matters, especially basketball. But Russo used O'Neal' failures in Orlando as his reasoning for raining on the decision. 

O'Neal is the fourth player to have his jersey retired with three different franchises, joining Pete Maravich, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. His jersey is also retired by Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, both organizations he helped win a championship. 

Russo called it "ridiculous." 

"He was there four years. They got swept by the Bulls horrifically in his last year," Russo said. "They got murdered by Olajuwon. Scott Skiles is next? My goodness, gracious. He went to the Lakers and the Magic fell apart for eons. It's four years. They did not win. They got smoked in the Finals ... Now we're going to retire his jersey? That's a little rough."

Orlando Magic Officially Retire Shaquille O'Neal's Jersey Number

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com