NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal gave brutally honest advice to Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce as the seven-time Pro Bowler considers ending his playing career.
Kelce, 36, is known to be considering retirement and has yet to publicly announce whether he will hang up his cleats or return to the field for another season.
O’Neal spent nearly two decades in the NBA, most notably with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning four titles before retiring in 2011.
“My advice to you is, when you retire, accept it and enjoy your family brother,” O’Neal said.
‘I made a lot of stupid mistakes that caused me to lose my family and have no one left. That is not the case with you. So enjoy your beautiful wife. Enjoy your beautiful children and never think about what we had. What we had is what we got.”
Shaquille O’Neal gave some advice to Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce about his retirement
Kelce has considered leaving the game but has yet to announce his decision
Kelce, who won Super Bowl LII with the Eagles, has three daughters — Wyatt Elizabeth, Elliotte Ray and Bennett Llewellyn — with his wife Kylie.
Shaq, meanwhile, has six children, but he and ex-wife Shaunie Henderson divorced in 2011, with the NBA legend later admitting he was ‘a serial cheater’.
‘You have the ring. People know who you are. To enjoy. Because again, I was an idiot and I talked about it for a long time,” O’Neal added. ‘I lost my entire family. I live alone in a 100,000 square foot house.”
Kelce recently stated that he would like to remain involved in football in some capacity, even if he chose to retire.
A recent report claimed the 36-year-old had been ‘making the rounds’ with various networks in it Las Vegas during Super Bowl week on a possible move to the broadcast booth.
Kelce recently met with several networks about a possible transition into a broadcasting career
The article also states that Amazon, NBC and CBS would pursue Kelce, 36, if and when he commits his future to broadcasting.
Kelce appeared on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast this season during the Eagles’ bye week.
His recent conversations with Fox and ESPN were described as a preliminary “test of the waters.”
Kelce also recently said that if he decided to get into coaching, he would do it at the high school or NFL level, but not college because of the necessary time commitment.