The Shaq Attaq, Shaq Fu, Shaq Diesel, The Real Deal – Shaquille O’Neal has announced his retirement from basketball via Twitter.

“We did it,” he says in a video linked from his Twitter account. “19 years, baby, I wanna thank you very much. That’s why I’m telling you first, I’m about to retire.”

It looks like Shaq has jumped the traditional channels such as ESPN or an official press conference to tell his 3.8 million followers on Twitter the big news first. He has tweeted a few times within the last hour, using the hashtag #ShaqRetires.

The 7ft. 1 in. star played in the NBA with 6 teams, most recently the Boston Celtics. He began his career with the Orlando Magic and spent the majority of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The announcement video he linked to on Twitter is on Tout.com, a short video sharing app that links up with Twitter, Facebook and other social outlets for quick “video status” sharing. I Wonder if Shaq has a stake in the startup? Here’s the video, pulled from YouTube:

[Image Courtesy Shaq’s Twitter Account]