It's a deal that elicits a range of emotions from incredulity to head-scratching acceptance. Shaquille O'Neal has been freed from the disaster that is the 2007-08 Miami Heat to join the Phoenix Suns, potentially as the piece that ultimately puts them over the top.

The transaction, which sends Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to South Florida, was completed after O'Neal went through the motions in a Wednesday physical. Suns management already knew he wasn't going to ace it due to an ailing hip that kept him out of Miami's lineup for 14 of the team's last 18 games.

Steve Kerr has rolled the dice; now let's see if his gambit will pay off. (Getty Images)

In discussing this move with viable league sources, including general managers of other teams, the prevailing question was not, "What does O'Neal have left?" but rather, "Why would Phoenix do this?" The Suns have the Western Conference's best record through 48 games despite chemistry issues that have been in play all season, starting with Marion's September trade demand to recent exploratory discussions about Amare Stoudemire's future with the team.

Steve Kerr, in his first season as general manager, was told by owner Robert Sarver to put his stamp on the Suns when he took over. Apparently, this is his way of saying he didn't believe his team, as constructed, could make it through the Western Conference maze come the playoffs.

It is no coincidence that this drastic measure comes on the heels of the L.A. Lakers' acquisition of Pau Gasol on Friday. Gasol debuted with 24 points and 12 rebounds in a win over New Jersey on Tuesday night as talk of a potential deal between Phoenix and Miami circulated throughout the league.

"They're desperate about winning a championship. They're afraid the Steve Nash era may end up having nothing to show. Desperate times will make you do desperate things," one league source said of the Suns.

"It's a drastic adjustment, for sure. I hate saying something can't work, but I find it pretty hard to see how."

The only way this move is lauded is if Phoenix is celebrating a championship by 2010. There's no in-between. That's why Sarver, who has a history of penny-pinching, has endorsed the move. Kerr is disrupting the up-tempo style his head coach, Mike D'Antoni, has utilized to win nearly 72 percent of his games and reach a pair of conference finals in the last three seasons.

Pat Riley similarly went all-in when he dealt Lamar Odom and Caron Butler to L.A. for O'Neal, knowing that without a championship, he was mortgaging his franchise's future for an aging star who would command a large salary. The Heat won that ring in 2006, making even this season's nightmare worth stomaching, but Miami is thrilled with having O'Neal and the $40 million he's owed over the next two seasons come off the books.

There won't be a parade welcoming Marion into town, but if sentiments dictated that type of celebration, Miami mayor Manny Diaz might be working on preparations to honor O'Neal being shown the door. From a cap standpoint, the Heat can breathe again. Although Banks' deal, paying him $13.4 million the next three years, isn't fiscally responsible, it's manageable, particularly in an area of need. Marion, if he feels comfortable with the Heat, would likely work out an extension, though he can exercise a $17 million player option for 2008-09 and try his luck in free agency.

If Marion chooses to part ways with Miami after the season, the team can chase after the likes of Baron Davis, Elton Brand and Ron Artest, dangling the carrot of playing alongside Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem and what will likely be a high lottery pick in the 2008 draft -- the Heat's reward for this season's unexpected demise. The future, which looked bleak and tied to prayers when the week began, is now brimming with possibilities.

O'Neal has stated time and time again he'll accept no buyout, having signed up for a full term on which there is still two years left. He won't run away from that, which means Phoenix fans should get comfortable with him being around a while.

As Heat fans will tell you, he can be a blast to watch, once you get past the fact he's missed at least 15 games in six of the last seven seasons and hasn't played in at least 60 of the 82 since 2004-05. O'Neal's scoring average has dwindled to a career-low 14.2 as he has played through pain this season. His rebounding average is at 7.8, slightly up from last year's career-low 7.4 clip, and his shooting percentage is at 58.1, his lowest since arriving in Miami from L.A.

He has failed to block at least two shots per game for the last three seasons after doing so in 12 of his first 13.

Presumably, O'Neal's acquisition has been made to keep up with a Spurs squad led by Tim Duncan; a Lakers team which will have Gasol and Andrew Bynum; and legitimate threats like Denver with Marcus Camby, Houston with Yao Ming and New Orleans with Tyson Chandler. The majority of the NBA's quality giants are in the Western Conference, so Kerr wants to make sure his team is equipped. He feels he can't beat them, so he'll join them.

It paints him and O'Neal into a corner together. Kerr is gambling on an aging center who says he's physically in the best shape of his career -- nagging hip issue aside -- and will do anything to win one for the thumb. We'll see if anything truly means anything.

Although he has played with running mates like Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant and Wade, Shaq has never played with a point guard the likes of Nash. In fact, Shaq has never played with a fellow MVP, much less a two-time winner. Nash's ego won't be a problem, but he's only slightly altering his approach. O'Neal might have to undergo a lobotomy to fit in with the Suns.

Sure, he'll change them into more of a half-court team when he's out there, but for the first time in his career, he won't be the primary option in the post. Stoudemire is on board. Though he grew up a fan of O'Neal's explosion down low and patterned much of his style after him, Stoudemire is a grown man now. He has his own ego, one that caused him to privately voice his displeasure over not getting enough touches earlier this season. Think he's simply going to step to the side?

Everyone will toe the company line and say all the right things at the outset of this experiment. O'Neal will charm the city and the organization. D'Antoni will go down to his lab and see how to best utilize him, counting on the double-teams that are sure to follow. Nash will immediately practice those alley-oop passes off his head. The Suns will play a half-court style when Shaq is out there and throw opponents their "seven seconds or less" curveball when he's not. Team chemistry might even improve.

That said, unless they end up with a ring for their efforts, this will have an unfavorable end. The Suns had a pretty good thing going, no? O'Neal, though thrilled he won't have to waste one of the final postseasons he'll have left, is set up to be the scapegoat if this doesn't work out. Same goes for Kerr, whose courage and conviction you at least have to admire. He's taken the mandate to put his stamp on the team and run with it, making an immediate splash. He'll go down as a genius or a fool.

Look at all the ifs now in play. Marion was saddled with the reputation of a malcontent because he never felt he got the credit he deserved, but no one can say he wasn't a game-changing defender who helped make up for many of the Suns' defensive flaws. He guarded everyone from point guards to power forwards, masked a lot of Nash's deficiencies and was perennially the team's top rebounder.

Now that he's gone, there is little behind Raja Bell in terms of perimeter defense. Rookie D.J. Strawberry will be asked to step up. There's no longer a safety net in case Grant Hill succumbs to an injury, either. All the eggs have been put in a single basket.

Ominously, it's marked "Fragile."