Jermaine O'Neal said in an interview Wednesday that he has spoken with Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh once since the season ended, but trade talk never entered the conversation. He said there is nothing to reports that he's pushing to be reunited with his old coach Isiah Thomas at the New York Knicks.
"That's just somebody that's putting out speculation," O'Neal told The Associated Press. "That didn't come from the Pacers, and that didn't come from me."
O'Neal was close to Thomas when he coached the Pacers, before he was fired four years ago in favour of Carlisle. O'Neal acknowledges that he could be traded but denied a Chicago Tribune report that he had made such a request.
"They gave me the opportunity to build my name and status in this league," O'Neal said of the Pacers. "It's disrespectful to them to be commenting about it. I haven't made any demands or anything like that.
"There's not going to be anymore speculation," he said. "It's all going to be false speculation. I'm going to let the process take its course."