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Shaquille O’Neal was Breakers’ owner Matt Walsh’s personal chauffeur during his short NBA stint with the Miami Heat in 2005.
Talk about riding in style.
Breakers’ owner Matt Walsh has revealed basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal was his personal chauffeur, driving him home from training in his patrol car during his short NBA stint with the Miami Heat in 2005.
Shooting guard Walsh played two games with the Heat and was a team-mate of hoops royalty O’Neal, who was given an honorary US deputy marshal title, Dwyane Wade, Gary Payton, and Alonzo Mourning.
“At the time he used to drive me home in his Infiniti SUV that was also his police vehicle because Shaq was a US marshal, so we used to go through lights with the [flashing] lights on and it was pretty cool,” Walsh said.
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“I remember just sitting there texting my friend like, ‘You guys won’t believe this, I’m driving home with Shaq’.”
O’Neal drove him home from Heat practices after Walsh’s vehicle was out of action –smashed into by a drunk driver at his apartment complex one night.
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Breakers’ owner Matt Walsh, pictured in a 2005 pre-season game for the Miami Heat against San Antonio.
Of all his team-mates, O’Neal was the only person to offer him a ride, which Walsh was touched by.
“I got a taxi to practice and as I was telling everyone the story in the locker room, Shaq came up to me and was like, he used to call me ‘Wash’. He was like ‘Wash,’ I’ll give you a ride home after practice. For three weeks he gave me a ride home every day after practice.
“The biggest star in the world at the time was the only guy who offered it and we’d drive over to South Beach where my place was and we’d cruise around South Beach some days and we did some fun stuff. It was totally surreal to think that I had that kind of relationship with Shaq.”
Larger-than-life character O’Neal, a four-time NBA champion, 15-time All Star, and Hall of Famer, was one of the most easy-going, caring people Walsh had met in his life.
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Matt Walsh, left, Dwyane Wade, and Udonis Haslem on a Miami Heat pre-season trip to Puerto Rico in 2005.
“I can never speak more highly of anyone than Shaq. I was the absolute bottom guy on the bench and he treated me like I was Dwyane Wade and that’s what kind of person he is.”
Walsh recounted another story, where he and Heat team-mates attended a “crazy” party to launch their season at O’Neal’s eight bedroom waterfront mansion in Star Island, Miami Beach – which he bought for $18.8 million in 2004.
Walsh was able to invite three of his best friends and said they still reminisced on the night all these years on.
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Basketball superstars Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade were team-mates of Breakers’ owner Matt Walsh at the Miami Heat in 2005.
“He would have some crazy parties. [Baseball legend] Alex Rodriguez was there and all these celebrities and I invited my three best friends that would go to the party and they still talk about it to this day. They got to go to a party at Shaq’s house.”
Walsh was close to returning to the NBA the following season playing pre-season with the New Jersey Nets. He played well and put up respectable numbers. In several games he was the first option off the bench, playing alongside starters Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, and Cliff Robinson.
“The reality of the situation was I was a minimum [salary] player on a non-guaranteed contract and they had 15 roster spots and that’s just one of those things … and it just didn’t work out for me.”
While the NBA didn’t eventuate, Walsh enjoyed a decade-long professional career in Europe, playing for 12 teams in nine countries between 2006-15, before moving into sports ownership.
