Shaquille O’Neal, one of the most dominating big men in NBA history in his prime, announced his retirement yesterday after a 19-year career that saw him win four NBA titles.

“Shaq” was at his finest from 2000 through 2002 when he combined with star guard Kobe Bryant to guide the Los Angeles Lakers to three NBA crowns, and he added another in 2006 with Miami, two years after being traded to the Heat.

“im retiring,” O’Neal posted on his Twitter, which also included a video link in which he thanked his followers on the social media site.

O’Neal, 39, was nagged by injuries in the past seasons, including failed stints at Phoenix, Cleveland and this season in Boston.

A nagging right Achilles tendon injury proved more than O’Neal could overcome and he told an ESPN reporter who is working on a biography of him that he considered making a comeback but did not want to disappoint Celtics fans.

“I really thought about coming back but this Achilles is very damaged and if I had it done the recovery would be so long we’d have the same outcome as this last year – everyone sitting around and waiting for me,” O’Neal said.

“I didn’t want to let people down two years in a row. I didn’t want to hold Boston hostage again.”

O’Neal, a 15-time NBA All-Star, ranks fifth on the all-time NBA scoring list with 28,596 points and his three NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Awards trail only Michael Jordan on the all-time records.

O’Neal ranks 12th on the NBA all-time rebound list with 13,099. He played only 37 games for the Celtics this season, three of those appearances coming in the last two months of the season.

Among NBA players with at least 2,000 baskets, O’Neal ranks second in shooting percentage with a 58.2 per cent accuracy rate.

O’Neal sports a Superman logo tattoo on one arm and another that featured a giant hand looming behind the Earth with the abbrevation TWISM, which stood for “The World Is Mine”.