Report: Jermaine O'Neal preparing for comeback with Warriors

Jermaine O'Neal left the league a little too soon.

Now that the league is awash in TV contract money, and the Golden State Warriors landed Kevin Durant, O'Neal is planning for an NBA return with his former team, reports Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group.

The 37-year-old O'Neal spent the final year of his career with the Warriors in 2014, when it was assumed that the 18-year veteran had retired. He made noise about a potential comeback in 2015 but he said the decision would come after consulting his family.

O'Neal insisted back in 2015 that he could still play, according to the Indy Star.

Can I physically still play? Probably better than 60% of the bigs in the league today! That's not a knock on anyone but more about how I feel.

As it happens, the Warriors would need some help in the frontcourt. The team plans to trade Andrew Bogut to open up cap room and they renounced rights to Festus Ezeli.

O'Neal put up 7.9 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 50.4 percent from the field in 20.1 minutes in 2014. If he can shake off the rust and replicate those numbers, he could help the Warriors who merely need a warm body in the paint as their full complement of superstars do the heavy lifting.