In the early hours of an Oregon Thanksgiving morning, 19-year-old Jermaine O’Neal’s life was about to change in ways he never could have imagined. He was in his second season with the Portland Trail Blazers, the team that had drafted him out of high school, and while his future held great promise, he was about to learn that the present offered no guarantees.
He was on his way home from the airport after a road trip when suddenly another car slammed into him. The Lexus O’Neal was driving flipped over and landed in a ditch, which was at that moment the least of his concerns. A far bigger problem was that his car was now on fire. Greater still, he was trapped.
As he drifted in and out of consciousness, O’Neal fought to escape the burning wreck, but the more he struggled, the more stuck he became.

“It was the strangest thing,” O’Neal said. “The way the dash broke, there was no way I could get out of there, at 6-foot-11, in a sports car.”
That was when something strange happened. To this day, O’Neal is at a loss to explain it fully, because he honestly has no idea. Someone, he does not know whom, came along and managed to pull him from the car to safety.
O’Neal is a religious man. He’s hesitant to talk about this aspect of his life because he’s sensitive to how others view articles of faith. But whatever happened that night is simply too powerful for him to ignore, so this is how he has ultimately come to explain it.

“I felt like God was with me,” he said.
He was taken via ambulance to a local hospital where he was treated for bruises to his left shoulder and shin and given six stitches for a cut near his left eye, according to a report in the Oregonian. All things considered, O’Neal emerged from the episode relatively unscathed. The injuries would heal in time, but the moment stayed with him forever. He tried to find the person who helped him, but no one ever came forward.
Sometimes he’ll think about that night when he’s driving home after yet another road trip in an NBA career that is entering its 15th season. In a strange way, the accident gave him direction. 
“More than anything, I know I have a purpose in life,” he said. “My purpose is to be who I am. That’s a great father, a family man, a businessman, a great teammate.
“This whole life, this whole 15 years, has been for a purpose. When you go through things like that, when you’re facing death, you realize that God does have a plan. All the things that seem important aren’t as important anymore. That’s something that I really value and really cherish.”
Among the things that rate as not that important to O’Neal anymore are the very things he gets asked about pretty much on daily basis: Does he care if he starts? Can he still contribute and play at a high level?
The answer to the first question is easy: No, he doesn’t care if he starts. If Shaquille O’Neal gets the call as seems likely, fine. If Kendrick Perkins comes back and reclaims his job, that’s fine too. That’s not why he’s here.
“We understand that we’re going to need everybody to win a championship this year,” O’Neal said. “There’s going to be times where I play well. There’s going to be times where [Shaq] plays well. The key is picking each other up when we need each other. That’s all we worry about. Everything else is going to play itself out.”
As for the latter, no, he’s not the same player that he was in 2004 when he led Indiana to the best record in the NBA and finished third in the MVP voting, and he’s certainly not the same bundle of athleticism and youth that he was back in Portland. He’s different now, but he’s at peace with that.
“I promise you I can’t be the Jermaine O’Neal of 10 years ago,” he said. “I can’t jump as high as I used to, but I’m a lot smarter than I was 10 years ago. I can tell you this. I’m one of the best in the league at covering ground on that weakside. I will block shots. I will rebound.
“If they are judging me on the offensive scoring abilities, it’s not going to be that way. Nor do I want it to be that way because I didn’t come here to score. I came here to be a part of something special.”
It was Jermaine O’Neal, not Shaq, who was Danny Ainge’s big free-agent acquisition. He was the one who landed the full mid-level exception and he was the one who entered training camp as the likely starter.
Things haven’t quite worked out that way. A hamstring injury sidelined him for a week at the start of camp and then he tore cartilage in his left wrist taking a charge in a preseason game against Toronto and missed more time.
It had to have been frustrating for him to keep experiencing these setbacks, but O’Neal exudes a quiet calm and confidence about the situation.
“I’m not as concerned because I know what I can do,” he said. “I know what my role is to this team and that’s what I’m going to do. I know a lot of people are going to gauge how I shoot the ball, or if I’m scoring any points. That’s not the job that’s given to me on this team. I knew that when I decided to come here.” 
He knows he’s not going to be a stationary figure on the block, calling for the ball and commanding a double-team, but he sees the movement in the Celtics offense and he can visualize all those easy opportunities that will come his way.
“The movement itself makes it easier to score,” O’Neal said. “You may not need a play called to get eight points in a game. You may just get it off offensive rebounds because guys have to come over [and help], or we may just get it off quick dunks.”
That’s the part that excites him. Not the dunks and the attention that comes from scoring, but the chance to play a part in something bigger. For all he has accomplished, O’Neal has never played in an NBA Finals. That’s his motivation.
“Winning a championship is self-validation for me,” O’Neal said. “I don’t care, good or bad, whatever anyone says about Jermaine O’Neal at the end of the day, if I can walk away with a championship ring.”
There’s perspective formed by a lifetime in the NBA. Most of the Celtics already have that. Then there’s the kind of perspective that can only be found in the early morning hours when it’s just you and your fate is out of your control. Someone came along and helped Jermaine O’Neal out of a burning car that was stuck in a ditch and that’s all the perspective he’ll ever need.