Jermaine O'Neal makes his home in the Dallas area. The city's NBA team is confident it can sign O'Neal to play this season, according to ESPN.
O'Neal, 36, has not played since he suited up for the Warriors last April. The 18-year veteran played in just 44 games while battling a wrist injury. A season earlier, he missed time with an irregular heartbeat and also took time off to be with his daughter, Asjia, who underwent surgery to repair a leaking heart valve. He played in just 55 games that season with the Phoenix Suns.
O'Neal admitted last month in a series of tweets that has contemplated retirement.
"For 18 long years sports has dominated my families life to a point that they have had to sacrifice things that was important to them," he tweeted on Dec. 23. "So you can believe now whatever decision I make will be a pure family decision that my family will have a huge part on making with me.
"Can I physically still play?Probably better than 60% of the bigs in the league today! That's not a knock on anyone but more about how I feel," he continued. "... I will say this, if the decision is to play I promise you that when I hit the court I will be ready physically and mentally to help a team!"
It seems that O'Neal has decided to continue playing and the Mavericks are joined in their pursuit by the Trail Blazers, the team that drafted O'Neal out of Eau Claire High School in Columbia, S.C., in 1996.
The six-time all-star was in Germany earlier this month for the treatment on his knees, the same type of treatment he said helped him play last season. In a series of posts in Instagram, O'Neal mentions the "work" he's putting in to get into game shape. One post from Jan. 5 said, "this is the 2nd step in a 3 step process! The first step being my family."
The Mavericks dealt 6-10 forward Brandan Wright as part of the deal to acquire guard Rajon Rondo, so they need front-line help that the 6-11 O'Neal could provide. O'Neal averaged 7.9 points per game last year and has a 13.2 points-per-game average with 7.2 rebounds per game for his career.