Those hoping to see Shaquille O’Neal return to the hardwood will have to tame their excitement.
ESPN.com reported last week that O’Neal was approached about playing in the Mexican Basketball League this year and that he could play a couple of games in October. However, O’Neal told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that the report is untrue.
“No truth to that,” O’Neal said when asked about a potential return. “It’s kind of unfortunate that so-called experts have to get their sources from the Internet. It’s backwards. Especially like when people from ESPN know me and they can call me and ask me, but somebody else said it so they want to be the first to report it even though it’s not true. However, we could talk, but nobody has contacted me.”
O’Neal was then asked if that means he definitely won’t be playing in Mexico this year, to which the future Hall of Famer said, “Probably not.”
O’Neal last played in 2010-11 with the Celtics, appearing in just 37 games over the course of an injury-plagued campaign. He’s currently serving as an analyst for TNT, and it sounds like the station won’t have to worry about losing him any time soon.
