Bordow: Marion for O’Neal? Suns can’t be serious

The moment you heard it, you knew it couldn’t be true. Shaquille O’Neal to Phoenix for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks? The Suns would never do that. Would they?

Get Ready … Here Comes Shaq!

Report: Suns, Heat talking trade involving Marion, O'Neal

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O’Neal is 35 years old. His body is breaking down. He’s owed $40 million over the next two seasons.

Then there’s the fact he’s the worst possible fit for Mike D’Antoni’s offensive system, a big man who slows the ball down and moves about as well as a refrigerator.

And yet, the Suns are contemplating just such a deal.

To which I say: Are you kidding me?

If Phoenix is so desperate for a center who can’t play anymore, why not trade for Bill Russell? He makes about as much sense as O’Neal. And he plays better defense.

Shaq is no longer Shaq. He’s averaging a career-low 14.2 points per game. He has a hip injury that’s sidelined him the past six games, and the Heat don’t know when he’ll be healthy, or if he’ll ever be healthy again.

So why do this?

And why now?

It appears Phoenix is panicking over the Los Angeles Lakers’ recent acquisition of Pau Gasol. The Suns have the best record in the Western Conference, and for the last couple of weeks owner Robert Sarver and general manager Steve Kerr have been saying they plan to stand pat.

Marion for O’Neal isn’t standing pat.

It’s blowing up the team.

The trade doesn’t make any sense for the Suns, either from a competitive or financial standpoint.

Phoenix will be bigger, but not better. Marion averages more rebounds per game (9.9) than O’Neal (7.8)

And while the combined salaries of Marion and Banks would offset O’Neal’s $20 million next season, the Suns would be on the hook for O’Neal’s $20 million salary in 2009-2010 while Marion’s contract comes off the books.

Clearly, this is a desperation move by Phoenix, a last-gasp attempt to win an NBA title.

If Shaq could still dominate, even for short periods of time, perhaps it would be worth the gamble.

But he can’t dominate any longer. He’s a shell of his former self on the offensive end of the floor and a liability defensively.

We won’t even mention his free-throw shooting.

And what if Phoenix doesn’t win a title this season with Shaq? Then it has an old club — Grant Hill is 35, Steve Nash turns 34 Thursday — and a $20 million albatross on the salary cap.

Is that really how Kerr wants his first major move to be remembered?

That the Suns are even considering the deal is the best evidence yet that there’s a philosophical rift between Kerr and D’Antoni.

There’s no way D’Antoni can be in favor of the deal. O’Neal is the antithesis of everything he believes in offensively, and everything the Suns do. Kerr couldn’t express his disapproval of D’Antoni’s methods any louder if he tried.

Know this: The day O’Neal dons a Phoenix uniform will mark the beginning of the end of D’Antoni as coach.

Let’s hope Kerr comes to his senses and kills the deal. O’Neal might sound good in theory but in reality he’s 350 pounds of dead weight.

But if the trade is made, Jerry Colangelo will be off the hook.

No longer will his Dennis Johnson-for-Rick Robey deal be the stupidest move in franchise history.

In fact, it won’t even be a close second.