That time Jermaine O'Neal almost committed to Kentucky

Before an 18-year NBA career with six All-Star and three All-NBA selections, Indiana Pacers great Jermaine O’Neal came close to attending the University of Kentucky.

A two-time Parade High School All-American from Columbia, South Carolina, O’Neal instead chose to follow a new path laid before him by another South Carolinian, Kevin Garnett, one year earlier. Garnett was the first high school player to declare for the NBA Draft in two decades and was named Second Team All-Rookie one year removed from high school graduation.

The following summer, Jermaine O’Neal was picked in the first round out of Eau Claire High School and became the youngest player to ever play in an NBA game.

O’Neal credits Rick Pitino with pushing him in that direction.

During a recent interview with the Ryen Russillo podcast, O’Neal revealed Kentucky would have been his college destination if he played college basketball. However, Kentucky’s own head coach told him it would be in his best interest to forego college for the NBA.

“I didn’t necessarily know until the end,” O’Neal said of his college recruitment and NBA decision. An in-home visit with Pitino ultimately decided his direction, but it wasn’t toward Lexington.

“It was the last recruiting period and Rick Pitino came down, he sat in my living room with me and my mom… Pitino’s sitting there and he said, “Hey Jermaine, look. We’re going to be good with you or we’re going to be good without you. We’d love to have you, but I think you should go pro.”

O’Neal and his mother were surprised by Pitino’s honesty, he said, during a time when young recruits and their families had to rely on coaches’ words due to a lack of access to information.

“We had to take in what everybody is telling us and hope that the information is true, but there’s no guarantee at the same time,” O’Neal told Russillo.

“The thing that I really respected, and he was the one that really put me over the top on deciding to go pro, is he said, ‘Look, I have a ton of relationships in the NBA, you’re for sure going to be a first-rounder, you won’t fall past 15.'”

O’Neal and his family then ran Pitino’s projection against any other info they could find and determined a top-15 pick was enough to make the jump straight to the league. He was drafted 17th overall to the Indiana Pacers. (Close enough, Rick.)

But if O’Neal had gone to Kentucky, he would have been the McDonald’s All-American big man on the NCAA runner-up team with senior Anthony Epps and 1997 NBA draft picks Derek Anderson and Ron Mercer. A nice addition in hindsight, O’Neal likely would have meant no Jamaal Magloire, the school’s all-time leading shot blocker and NCAA champion in 1998.

With eligibility concerns around O’Neal, Pitino made the right move. Jamaal Magloire is awesome.

Other NBA stars who were almost Wildcats

A year after O’Neal took Pitino’s advice and entered the draft, high school phenom Tracy McGrady chose the NBA Draft over a near commitment to Kentucky. McGrady has told the story many times (as recent as last month) about how he planned to be a Wildcat for Tubby Smith until an eight-figure Adidas shoe deal changed his mind. UK won the title without him.

From the NBA class after McGrady, NBA Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki admits Kentucky was his college choice if he hadn’t entered the draft. Dirk openly roots for Kentucky to this day.