Former NBA star Jermaine O’Neal had a 16,477-square-foot mansion built in Southlake nine years ago.
That, in itself, is unusual because O’Neal never played for the local NBA team, the Mavericks. But O’Neal’s age and medical status — he played 19 seasons — kept him from playing here.
Now, the price for the mansion has dropped to $9,999,900, just $100 short of $10 million, and less than the $11.49 million it was originally listed in December 2019.
The custom-built mansion has been listed on Realtor.com for more than 530 days, more than 10 times the amount of days (49) that Tarrant County homes stay on market, according to MetroTex Association of Realtors data for August.
The eight-bedroom house is partially furnished sits on a 4.83-acre lot at 940 W. Dove Road in northwest Southlake, just off State Highway 114 and handy to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
In a sign that the house was bought by an NBA player, the residence includes a full-sized indoor court. It also features a game room with bowling lanes, a billiard table, according to the listing.
The house also comes with a six-car garage, a pool with a slide, a covered barbecue grill area, multiple living areas, three fireplaces, a state-of-the-art kitchen that includes a breakfast bar and dining nook.
The house is presented by agent Marilyn Hoffman and brokered by Hoffman International Properties in Dallas.
O’Neal, who is now retired, was the driving force of a recent Netflix documentary, Malice at the Palace, which detailed one of the more infamous moments in NBA history in which players and fans were involved in a late-game brawl.
O’Neal last played for an NBA team in 2014. He sat out the 2014-2015 season but didn’t officially announce a retirement.
In 2017, O’Neal, despite having no ties to the area, did invest in youth basketball development in North Texas. He founded Drive Nation Sports in Irving. Drive Nation started out at his private gym in his Southlake mansion before finding a facility.
But why Southlake for O’Neal, a South Carolina native who played for seven NBA teams over 18 seasons?
“Our real estate agent drove us around the Metroplex,” O’Neal told Southlake Style in 2017. “When we got to Southlake, the education system jumped out at us. Our daughter had always gone to private school; the schools here are at a private-school level.”
