Get ready to hear the words, “The Big Sombrero,” about 5,000 times over the next two months.
ESPNDeportes.com reports that NBA legend and TNT commentator Shaquille O’Neal is in negotiations with Fuerza Regia of the Mexican Professional Basketball League to play in “one or two” games in October.
Cronica.com reports that O’Neal was recently in Monterrey, Mexico, to meet with wheelchair-bound children.
O’Neal, 40, announced his retirement from the NBA in June 2011. He signed on with TNT less than two months later and has so far resisted the urge to mount a comeback to professional basketball.
The self-proclaimed “Most Dominant Ever,” O’Neal retired with the fifth most points and seventh most blocks in NBA history. A 15-time All-Star and 4-time NBA champion, O’Neal earned more than $292 million in salary and will be a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Lakers announced plans to retire O’Neal’s jersey in April. His career also included stops with the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.
WRITTEN BY Ben Golliver | Blogger & FULL STORY HERE
——
Via ESPN:
Shaquille O’Neal is in talks to play a few games in the Mexican league, Sergio Ganem, president of the Fuerza Regia team, said Wednesday.
The 15-time NBA All-Star would play a couple of games this October.
The 40-year-old retired NBA center received the invitation this past August during a visit to Monterrey, where he did some social work at a community center for youth in wheelchairs.
No deal is in place, but Ganem spoke with O’Neal by phone in an attempt to convince him to return to action, and the team expects a response from O’Neal next week. Ganem noted that O’Neal’s availability will depend, in large part, upon his schedule as analyst for TNT’s Inside the NBA.
Fuerza Regia has distinguished itself for attention-grabbing contracts in the past. The team brought in Dennis Rodman in 2004 for two games and 7 foot, 9-inch player Sun Ming Ming, of China. The season started Sept. 4.
