Shaquille O'Neal wants the New Jersey Nets to stick around
New Boston Celtic Shaquille O’Neal is making headlines again, this time offering to run the New Jersey Nets if they remain in Newark, New Jersey, the city where O’Neal spent the first
14 years of his life.
The plan for the Nets is to keep them at the Prudential Center until work is completed on the Barclays Center Arena, their new home in Brooklyn, New York. They are expected to make the
move in time for the start of the 2012 NBA season.
"I would have liked to see the new owner get with the guy who built the arena and keep the Nets there," O'Neal told the Bergen County (N.J.) Record on Thursday. "I don't want to see the
team go to Brooklyn. Maybe the two heads can get together, they can do that and I can come down there and become general manager."
Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire owner of the Nets, and Jeff Vanderbeek, owner of the New Jersey Devils, have already agreed on the deal and it appears that it will go through,
despite the playful urgings of O’Neal.
"I think the owner, the beautiful Russian guy, should get with the people of the arena and the other people and me and we should get it done," O’Neal said.
Prokhorov told the newspaper via email that his decision to buy the Nets was "predicated" on the fact that they would eventually move the team to Brooklyn.
But O’Neal, who will return home to New Jersey Thursday night, where he still has family, to play the Nets in an exhibition game, will do all he can to keep the team where it is.
"I'm saving the owner money so he doesn't have to pay another $300 million to build this new arena in Brooklyn," he said. "I know he has it. Hopefully he'll stay and hopefully he'll make
me general manager because I will be available in 745 days."
Prokhorov has a simple message for O’Neal, the 38-year-old 15-time NBA All-Star.
"Regarding the gracious offer to become general manager, Shaq is always welcome to send his résumé to [current GM] Billy King," he said.
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