Jermaine O’Neal, despite his advanced age and extensive injury history, had a nice season for the Golden State Warriors last season. However, O’Neal remains a free agent and is reportedly contemplating retirement.
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According to Warriors’ general manager Bob Myers, O’Neal won’t be back with the Warriors.
“He’s not going to come to (training) camp,” Myers, who is O’Neal’s former agent, said Thursday via Diamond Leung of Inside The Bay Area. “We’re going to go with our guys, our three centers we have — (Andrew) Bogut, (Festus) Ezeli, (Ognjen) Kuzmic.
“I think he’s still processing what he wants to do, still in the process of figuring it out. But for our purposes, he’s not going to be with us…He probably won’t be with us next year. The reason is nothing detrimental in regards to him, but we just have three guys that we have at the position, so he’d (have been) the fourth center, so that’s more why. Nothing negative. He was fantastic for us last year.”
If O’Neal does return, he will likely look to sign with a contender.
O’Neal put up 7.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 50.4% from the field and 75.0% from the free throw line last season. O’Neal was drafted with the 17th-overall pick in the first round of the 1996 draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. Over the course of his 18-year career, he’s played for the Warriors, Blazers, Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns. He’s averaged 13.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 46.7% from the field and 71.5% from the charity stripe during his career.
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