Shaquille O’Neal has his number retired by Miami Heat before game against Los Angeles Lakers

Reporting from MIAMI —  No matter where Shaquille O’Neal is honored, his history is inextricably linked with the Lakers.

And so, as he spoke before his Miami Heat jersey retirement ceremony Thursday night, he spoke of the first man who made him believe he could be one of the greatest NBA players of all time: former Lakers general manager Jerry West.

“When I got to L.A. I was doing a whole bunch of stuff and he pulled me in and just said, ‘Listen, I know you have a lot going on, you have movies and you are doing albums,’” O’Neal recalled. “And he made me look up [at the Lakers’ retired numbers] and said, ‘If you want your name here one day, you will have to start clamping down.’

“I looked and, man, there was Magic, Kareem and that was the first time someone told me that I was good enough to be up there.”

He spoke about Lakers Coach Luke Walton, with whom he spent only one season — Walton’s rookie year of 2003-04. He insisted he never had the heart to haze Walton.

“He was just a nice kid,” O’Neal said. “A good-looking kid with curly hair. He was just too sweet. I didn’t want to crush him.”

Walton’s memory might differ. He’s joked in the past about having seen “a shrink” to recover from the hazing from his rookie season. He declined to provide any stories.

“He’s one of my favorite teammates of all time,” Walton said. “Made a long season a lot of fun, being around him. He took my old 1970 Cadillac and fixed it up for me. It was very kind of him. He painted it. He had a shop, so they painted it, put big whitewall tires on it. Put a nice sound system in it.”

O’Neal won three championships with the Lakers before they traded him to the Heat in 2004. While in Miami he promised a championship, partied a lot and then delivered on the championship in 2006.

Before Thursday night’s game, O’Neal laughed and thanked Heat President Pat Riley for starting practices at noon so that players could get some sleep after being out until 4 a.m. Riley conceded that they did start practices late when he was the coach, but added that O’Neal never missed them.

Riley said he was surprised that O’Neal was available when the Heat acquired him.

“They had won three [championships] in Los Angeles and you just think they are going to keep that together and run its course like the Lakers did the first time with Kareem and Magic. … Once it became a possibility, we pursued it heavily. There was only one guy we wouldn’t trade.”

That one guy was Dwyane Wade, with whom O’Neal won his fourth NBA championship.

Randle on dad watch

Lakers forward Julius Randle missed Thursday’s game to attend the birth of his son.

Randle flew back to Los Angeles in the afternoon in an effort to be with his fiancee when she delivers their first child.

Although his fiancee, Kendra Shaw, was due to deliver next week, Randle has been on watch for his son’s arrival throughout the Lakers’ trip.

“I grew up in a single-parent household,” Randle said. “Just the opportunity to raise my son ... to be able to raise him and give him the love and emotional support and the guidance that I didn’t really have as a kid is kind of unique for me.”

This is the second time during the Lakers’ seven-game trip that Randle has swung back to Los Angeles to be with his fiancée. He flew home from Charlotte after the Lakers arrived there Sunday after Saturday night’s game at Cleveland.

After spending part of Sunday and most of Monday with Shaw, Randle took a red-eye back to Charlotte in time for the Lakers’ shoot-around Tuesday morning.

Randle probably won’t return in time for Friday’s game against the Orlando Magic, but his status was not certain.

“We try to stress the balance of what we do here,” Walton said. “It wasn’t like we forced Julius to go home. He wanted to go home and be there for the birth of his child, which is a much bigger event in the big scheme than one regular-season game. If it was Game 7 of the NBA Finals, we might have to have a longer discussion about it. But even then we’d give him that freedom. It’s something that’s a special moment that he should be there for.”

Etc.

Lakers forward Thomas Robinson set a season high in rebounds with 12. Robinson was assessed a technical foul for what officials thought was a dust-up with Heat center Hassan Whiteside. Robinson said the two are old friends and were just talking. … Lakers backup center Tarik Black sat out because of a sprained ankle. Walton said Black probably won’t be available against the Magic. … Forward Larry Nance Jr. was on crutches Thursday. An MRI exam on his left knee was inconclusive because of swelling, which may have been caused by a bone bruise.

Lakers tonight

VS. ORLANDO

When: 4 PST.

Where: Amway Center.

On the air: TV: Spectrum SportsNet, Spectrum Deportes; Radio: 710, 1330.

Records: Lakers 11-21; Magic 13-18.

Record vs. Magic (2015-16): 1-1.

Update: Both teams will be on the second night of a back-to-back. Orlando played in New York and lost to the Knicks, while the Lakers lost to the Heat in Miami. The Magic did beat the Heat in double overtime Tuesday. This game marks the end of a seven-game trip during which the Lakers have won only once, at Philadelphia.

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli