Jermaine O’Neal will be grabbing rebounds next year. The only question is if he’ll be battling 7-footers as the Celtics [team stats] center or if he’ll be chasing down the errant shots of his 4-year-old son, Jermaine Jr.

O’Neal wasn’t prepared to make a decision about his future immediately after the Celtics were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Miami Heat on Wednesday. But O’Neal indicated the desire to spend more time with his family — he also has an 11-year-old daughter, Asjia — makes retirement a possibility.

“I have a little boy that’s a sponge right now and he’s looking for more and more time from me,” O’Neal said. “Fifteen years (in the NBA), I’m 32 years old. That’s half my life.

“The most important thing for me right now is my family and my kids. Basketball has dominated so much of my life for so long that I have to really take an honest look. Now, every time I leave the house my son is asking when I’m coming back. When I call home, it’s, ‘When am I coming back?’ My daughter has been forgiving of it, but it may be time. I don’t know. I don’t want to suffer when I’m 45.”

O’Neal has put his body through the ringer in 976 career games. Since entering the league out of high school in 1996, the six-time All Star has been plagued by injuries.

This season, O’Neal missed 58 games with left knee and left wrist injuries. He’s confident he’ll return to full health over the summer, but isn’t sure he’s ready for the grind of another season.

“Your body tends to tell you what time it is,” O’Neal said. “I missed so much of this year, it would be inappropriate for me to even make a decision. Not when it’s an emotional decision. I’m going to take a couple days off and stay on the program with our strength-and-conditioning guy and stick around Boston for another month and then gauge it after the month is over and see where the collective bargaining agreement is going.”

The looming lockout likely will cut into next season, which would be welcomed by O’Neal.

“There’s a lot of things that have to play out,” he said. “Obviously, we may not even play next year. And if we play half a year, for sure I know everybody’s coming back here. It benefits us in a major, major way. But you can only take some time away. I don’t know what guys are planning on doing, but I need to get my head away from this. It’s time to get back with the family. We’ll see what happens.”

O’Neal has one year and $6.2 million remaining on his contract. That’s a lot of money to leave on the table, but he’s made almost $160 million in his career. The pull of his family may be stronger than that of one more contract and one more run at a championship.

“He wants to shoot 100 shots on the big goal to make one,” O’Neal said of the son who will keep him busy if he retires. “I was in the yard before we left just throwing the football with him. You don’t get those days back. As much as I want to win a championship and compete for a championship, it’s a difficult decision to make.