Jermaine O'Neal

“I was never really healthy mentally.”

“There are only two things that probably can stop me from playing - rapture, God coming back, and an ACL injury.”

“Anytime you have issues with your heart, that's scary, but I've taken every test that you can take.”

“I made a ton of money in my career.”

“I just don't want to be hurt.”

“As an African-American athlete, you get discouraged that this type of thing is still condoned in people's lives. You look at a situation where we're good enough to work for you, but not good enough to be around you. To build a franchise, good enough to build business for you, but not good enough to mingle amongst your circles.”

“If I had a bad game, people would point that out.”

“Look at the Seattle Seahawks. They talk it, they walk it and they play like wild animals. Sometimes you need that to win.”

“Everything else I've been able to enjoy, but a Finals game is something that I desperately want to do I want to feel that environment.”

“It's important to know that there's a reason why I won the federal case. It's important to know there's a reason why I got reinstated to play. I'll just leave it at that, but the biggest thing is that my relationship with the Pacers has not wavered.”

“I'm a player that has sat, literally, on every side of the good, of the bad, of the ugly.”

“I'm continuing to figure it out every single year: Life is a challenge, and the ones that succeed in life are the tough-minded ones that are not willing to accept failure.”

“Going from a situation where you're the best player on the court every time to the fourth-best player in your position, it humbled me.”

“Any athlete can preach to this, that when things aren't going well, you tend to bring it home, and the people that take the brunt of it is the family.”

“The Warriors have an old-school work ethic.”

“I'm saying in general, the bottom line is you play to win.”

“Even though I was still able to make some All-Star teams, mentally I was worn out. And once I wore out mentally, physically I started to wear down.”

“People talk about the term 'sacrificing your body' and I've done that.”

“The one thing I get asked about weekly when people see me who have never met me before is about the damn brawl and I'm tired of talking about it.”