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Celtics' Fox Hunting for New Gig After RetiringAfter 13 seasons which included three Championships as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, veteran forward Rick Fox has retired from the NBA. The Boston Celtics requested waivers on the veteran forward Thursday, his spokeswoman Staci Wolfe announced, to facilitate his retirement. Fox has spent the entire summer rehabilitating assorted injuries he accrued over the course of the 2003-04 season before his Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated in the NBA Finals at the hands of the Detroit Pistons. Fox, originally drafted 21st overall in the 1991 draft by the Celtics, returned to his original team earlier this summer in the trade that brought Gary Payton to the Celtics from Los Angeles and sent Chucky Atkins, Jumaine Jones and Chris Mihm west. He was never expected to suit up. "We were aware of Rick's medical situation when we made the trade," said Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge. "He has been a true professional and will always be a member of the Celtics family, especially considering this is where he started his career. We wish him well and are confident he will be successful in whatever he chooses to pursue next." Fox played with the Celtics from 1991-97, signing with the Lakers as an unrestricted free agent. Fox enjoyed a solid NBA career, posting career averages of 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, as well as winning three NBA Championships while a Laker. Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Shaq Fires Back at KobeThey may now be on separate sides of the country but the feud between superstars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal appears to be far from over. The Miami Herald is reporting that on Wednesday O'Neal dismissed as "ridiculous" Bryant's allegations that O'Neal had paid up to $1 million in hush money to various women and then took his own shot by saying, "I'm not the one buying love." O’Neal was responding to comments made by Bryant to detectives in Eagle, Colorado that "he should have done what Shaq does ... that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything" and already had paid up to $1 million "for situations like this." The allegations, which O’Neal has known about since last September, were quoted from a police report in the Los Angeles Times. The two played through the 2003/04 season as Lakers team mates with the allegations weighing on both their minds before Los Angeles fell to the Champion Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals. It would be the duo’s last time wearing the same uniform with O’Neal being traded to Miami only months later. "This whole situation is ridiculous," O'Neal told ESPN. "I never hang out with Kobe, I never hung around him. In the seven or eight years we were together, we were never together. So how this guy can think he knows anything about me or my business is funny. And one last thing - I'm not the one buying love. He's the one buying love." O'Neal's latter comment was an apparent reference to a ring - reportedly costing several million dollars - that Bryant gave his wife, Vanessa, after he was charged with felony sexual assault last summer. Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Bryant Claims O'Neal Paid Woman for SilenceAccording to a new report by the Los Angeles Times, Kobe Bryant told investigators that other NBA players had paid money to women in similar situations like his, and a name he mentioned was Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal was informed of the comment last September, about two weeks before Laker training camp opened in Hawaii, when prosecution investigators made an unsuccessful attempt to question him. His agent, Perry Rogers, said Tuesday that the allegation in Bryant's statement was untrue and "undeserving of a response." "Bryant made a comment to us about what another teammate does in situations like these," Detective Doug Winters wrote. "Bryant stated he should have done what Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) does. Bryant stated that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything. He stated Shaq has paid up to a million dollars already for situations like this. He stated he, Bryant, treats a woman with respect, therefore they shouldn't say anything." The reference was first reported by Sports Illustrated, which did not name O'Neal. Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Lakers Sep 2004 Archive
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