Jermaine O’Neal says Kentucky was right there at the top of his list coming out of high school, and for a moment it looked like he might end up in Lexington after the Wildcats’ 1996 national championship. But the former NBA All-Star says Rick Pitino’s blunt advice changed everything.
On the Str8 to Da League podcast, O’Neal said Kentucky was his first choice and that Pitino went all-in during the recruiting process, making several in-home visits with O’Neal and his family.
“I was going to go to Kentucky. Shout out to Rick Pitino, man.
Like he recruited me, and this was like the realest thing, man. My mother loved him, man.
She loved him,” O’Neal said.
What stuck with O’Neal was not just the recruiting pitch, but the honesty behind it. He said Pitino sat in the family living room and laid out the situation in plain terms, then told him the NBA was the better move.
“He was sitting in our living room, he came four times on visits, and he said, ‘Look, everything I know about you and your family, the struggles, the things you’re going through.’ He said, ‘We’re going to be good with you, or we’re going to be good without you.
Would love to have you, but you should go pro.’ That was the realest thing, bro.
When he said that, it made complete sense.”
O’Neal ultimately entered the 1996 NBA Draft and went No. 17 overall to the Portland Trail Blazers. He went on to play 18 seasons in the league, make six All-Star teams, earn three All-NBA Team honors, and finish with averages of 13.2 points and 7.2 rebounds over more than 1,000 games.
For Kentucky fans, it’s one more what-if to wonder about. For O’Neal, it was the moment a coach put honesty ahead of the recruiting win.
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