Jermaine O'Neal Net Worth
Jermaine O'Neal is an American former professional basketball player. He has a net worth of $65 million. O'Neal, at just 17 years of age, was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 17th overall pick, and played his first professional game at 18.
Bio And Wiki
Jermaine O'Neal is an American former professional basketball player. The center–power forward had a successful high school career and declared his eligibility for the
1996 NBA draft straight out of high school.
O'Neal, at just 17 years of age, was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 17th overall pick, and played his first professional game at 18. At the time, he was the youngest player to ever play an NBA game.
O'Neal was unable to break into the first team in Portland and was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2000. In his eight seasons with the team, he was voted an NBA All-Star six times, made the All-NBA teams three times, and was voted the NBA Most Improved Player in the 2001–02 season.
O'Neal also helped Indiana reach the NBA Playoffs six times, including the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2003–04 season.
O'Neal was traded to the Toronto Raptors before the 2008–09 season began, and later played for the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics, and the Phoenix Suns. O'Neal's final NBA season was the 2013–14 season, which he spent with the Golden State Warriors.
Biography
Real Name:- Jermaine O'Neal
NickName:- Jermaine Oneal
Birthplaces:- South Corolina
Nationality:- American
Profession:- Basketball Player
Birthdate:- 1978
Family
Mother name:- Angela Ocean
Father name:- Update Soon
Brother name:- Clifford O'Neal
Sister name:- Don't know
Married Status:- Married (Mesha O'Neal)
Children:- Asjia O'Neal And Jermaine O'Neal, Jr.
Girlfriends, Affairs & More
Girlfriends:- Not know
Affairs:- Update Soon
Married Status:- Married
Wife Name:- Mesha O'Neal
Early Life
O'Neal was born in Columbia, South Carolina. He and his older brother, Clifford, were raised by their mother, Angela Ocean. Ocean worked hard to support her sons and left her children largely to their own devices.
O'Neal found his love for athletics at a young age. Tall and quick, he enjoyed both American football and basketball, but basketball was his favorite sport.
Two of his basketball heroes are Hakeem Olajuwon and Bill Russell; O'Neal often marveled at Olajuwon's approach to the game, while he loved watching Russell's video highlights of his duels with Wilt Chamberlain.
Each summer, he would play for an AAU team and impressed onlookers with his athleticism and his ability to handle the ball with both hands. By the time he turned 14, the 6 ft 4 in O'Neal—now a confident guard who could drain three-pointers—entered Eau Claire High School of the Arts as a freshman in 1992.
In his first meeting with basketball coach George Glymph, he made the bold promise to become the best player in the school's history.
While O'Neal's first season was hardly noteworthing things changed when he grew five inches over the next year and a half, and he was inspired to develop into a defensive powerhouse like his idol, Bill Russell.
Glymph built his team's defense around O'Neal, and Eau Claire featured one of the most imposing frontcourts around. With O'Neal averaging 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 blocks a game, Eau Claire captured its third straight 3A state title in 1995.
The following July, the 16-year-old was able to raise his profile yet again. At an ABCD summer basketball camp, he outplayed Tim Thomas, a rising star at that time. Before long, recruiting letters from various top colleges came pouring in. O'Neal, however, also faced great pressure off the court.
That same year, the District Attorney contemplated prosecuting him for rape after he and his 15-year-old girlfriend were found partially nude in bed together by her father.
The DA eventually did not prosecute O'Neal, but as the latter struggled to cope with the pressure on and off the court, Glymph stepped in, introducing discipline to his life and keeping his feet to the ground. At the same time, O'Neal's mother had met a new man, Abraham Kennedy, who also guided O'Neal along.
In his senior season at Eau Claire, O'Neal's averages of 22.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 5.2 blocks per game ensured that he was voted First Team All-State, South Carolina's Player of the Year and "Mr. Basketball". Named to USA Today's All-USA Basketball Team, he earned a spot in the McDonald's All-American Game as well.
Despite being one of the nation's top prospects, O'Neal's future in college basketball was uncertain. He scored poorly on the SATs, and Glymph advised against him making the leap to the NBA.
But it was only a year before that another South Carolinian—future NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett—had made a seamless transition from high school to the NBA, and O'Neal thought he could emulate Garnett.
Personal Life
O'Neal is married to Mesha and has two children, a son, Jermaine Jr. and a daughter, Asjia. He also owned a recording studio named Bogota Entertainment in Atlanta.
O'Neal is a Christian. O'Neal's Twitter account profile says, "Jesus is the answer!" He also frequently tweets about his faith.
Career
O'Neal was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers as the 17th pick in the 1996 NBA draft. The rookie was surrounded by veterans and emerging stars who could show him the ropes in Portland; forming the frontcourt with him were Arvydas Sabonis, Rasheed Wallace, and Clifford R. Robinson. After missing the first 17 games with a bone contusion in his knee, O'Neal made his debut against the Denver Nuggets in December.
At 18 years, one month and 22 days, he became the youngest player to play in an NBA game.
O'Neal also became the youngest player at 18 years, three months and eleven days to score 20 points in a game on January 22, 1997, against the Seattle SuperSonics.
Portland was mediocre in the first half of the campaign, but came to form as the playoffs approached and managed to finish third in the Pacific Division with a 49–33 win-loss record. While fans at the Rose Garden harbored thoughts of an upset against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, the Trail Blazers succumbed in four games.
In O'Neal's first season, he appeared in a total of 45 games in the regular season, averaging 4.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. For the most part, however, he came off the bench and only averaged 10.2 minutes a game.
O'Neal doubted for a while if he had made the right decision to skip college—he watched with envy as good friend and fellow prep-to-pro draftee Kobe Bryant was enjoying a good rookie season—but he remained confident that the best had yet to come.
Despite his optimism, O'Neal found it difficult to break into the first team the following season. Brian Grant was acquired from free agency and new coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr. planned to use Sabonis, Wallace, and Grant as the starting frontcourt, while the presence of veteran Gary Trent also further reduced the sophomore's chances.
Thus, O'Neal was not given meaningful minutes in the early part of the campaign, although he showed glimpses of his potential with occasional double double performances when he returned from an early-season injury. Portland eventually produced a similar win-loss record as the preceding season with 46 wins, finishing fourth in the division.
In the playoffs, Dunleavy opted to go with a more youthful lineup: before the trade deadline, he had acquired point guard Damon Stoudamire, as well as forwards Carlos Rogers and Walt Williams. The move was designed to bolster the team's chances in the playoffs against teams that were bigger and more physical.
Nevertheless, for the second time in two years, the Trail Blazers were eliminated by the Lakers in four games in the first round. And just like the season before, O'Neal hardly featured for Portland, playing only three minutes in one game.
The 1998–99 season was initially disrupted for several months following an impasse in the collective bargaining negotiations. In the end, the league scaled down to a 50-game schedule, and Portland capitalized on the shortened campaign.
Boasting one of the league's most balanced squads that also had strength in depth, the Trail Blazers chalked up an impressive 35–15 record and topped the division. Dunleavy—who would later be named NBA Coach of the Year—led his club into the playoffs aiming to capture the franchise's first NBA title since 1977.
After sweeping the Phoenix Suns 3–0 in the first round, Portland defeated the Utah Jazz 4–2 to set up a showdown with the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. In Game 2, a 3-pointer by Sean Elliott in the closing seconds gave the Spurs an 86–85 win and propelled San Antonio to win the series.
O'Neal's disappointment at losing in the Conference Finals was compounded by the fact that his regular-season minutes had dropped to fewer than 10 a game for the first time, and that his contributions to the team were mostly insignificant, to begin with. He was having increasing doubts about his NBA career.
However, in an unexpected move, Portland showed their willingness to invest in O'Neal by offering him a four-year contract worth $24 million.[13] However, the new deal did not translate into more playing time for the power forward in the 1999–2000 season.
Portland acquired Detlef Schrempf, Scottie Pippen, and Steve Smith during the 1999 offseason, which meant that O'Neal was once again consigned to the bench. His statistics remained unimpressive, averaging 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game during the regular season.
In the meantime, the Trail Blazers continued to build on the success of their previous campaign. They notched 59 wins in the regular season, and defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Utah Jazz en route to reaching the Western Conference Finals.
Up against recent perennial rivals the Los Angeles Lakers, the team relinquished a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter of the pivotal Game 7, and lost 89–84. O'Neal was not heavily involved in any of this action, however. With back-to-back Conference Finals disappointments coupled with a lack of playing time, he soon announced his intention to be traded. The Trail Blazers relented in the end and sent him to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for NBA All-Star Dale Davis.
The trade was greeted with surprise by the Indiana fans as the Pacers had just come off an appearance in the 2000 NBA Finals, and the trade involved losing a quality player for an unproven commodity in O'Neal. The Pacers roster also saw the departures of Mark Jackson, Rik Smits and Chris Mullin, and even coach Larry Bird stepped down.
All of this meant that O'Neal arrived in Indianapolis facing intense pressure and scrutiny.[3] When O'Neal arrived at his new club, new coach Isiah Thomas—who had pushed for the O'Neal/Davis trade—told him that he simply needed to work harder on his game to succeed.
At that time, Indiana was rebuilding and still revolved around veteran All-Star Reggie Miller. O'Neal turned out to be a revelation for his new club and it was not long before he established himself as a key player for his new team.
Starting in 80 of the 81 regular-season games he played in for the 2000–01 season, his statistics improved significantly as he averaged 12.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.
The big man helped his team to a 41–41 record and the eighth playoff seed; he also led the league in total blocks (228, a franchise record), and led the Eastern Conference in double-doubles.
O'Neal kept up his form into the playoffs as well, averaging almost 9.8 points and 12.5 boards a game in the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers, although the series was short-lived as the latter emerged victorious in four games.
On July 23, 2013, O'Neal signed with the Golden State Warriors. On December 13, 2013, O'Neal underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist. He returned to action on February 4, 2014.
Retirement season
Feeling exhausted, O'Neal decided to sit out the 2014–15 NBA season. Despite receiving interest from several teams during the season, O'Neal remained out of action and instead decided to focus on his family.
In February 2016, O'Neal noted that he had not yet officially retired from the NBA.
National Team Career
Following his breakout season in 2000–01, O'Neal earned a spot on Team USA for the 2001 Goodwill Games. The Americans won all of their five games and the gold medal, and O'Neal led the team in blocks and shooting percentage, while finishing second in points and rebounds.
The 2002 NBA Most Improved Player was selected to represent his nation again in the 2002 World Basketball Championship which was held in Indianapolis. This time round, the Americans had a lackluster tournament, and could only finish sixth. O'Neal averaged 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds over eight games.
The next year, Team USA staged a comeback in the 2003 Tournament of the Americas. Winning all ten of its games and the gold medal, the team qualified for the 2004 Olympics. O'Neal featured in every game in that tournament, averaging 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest.
While he was earmarked as a core member of the team that would compete in the Olympics, a knee injury prevented him from participating in the games.
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