Shaquille O'Neal performs on day four of Lollapalooza at Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, August 4, 2019. (Photo: VCG)

The NBA is still exploring ways to restart the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but one of its most influential legends declared that it's time to give up on the current season and prepare for next year.

"Everybody go home, get healthy, come back next year," the four-time NBA champion told USA Today. "To try and come back now and do a rush play-offs as a player? Any team that wins this year, there's an asterisk. They're not going to get the respect."

"What if a team that's not really in the mix of things all of a sudden wins with a new playoff format? Nobody is going to respect that. So scrap it. Worry about the safety of the fans and the people. Come back next year," he added.

O'Neal was also unimpressed about NBA's plan to play the remaining games behind closed doors.

"It matters because looking at the fans starts your adrenaline," said the Hall of Famer. "Let's just say I'm playing on the road. I need to look at that one fan that's making faces at me. I need to look at that one fan that laughs at me when I miss a free throw. I need to look at that one fan that's holding up the opposing sign. I also need to look at the kid that looks at his dad when I look at him and says, 'Oh, my God, Shaq just looked at me.' They make us who we are."

"And then, you have to say, OK. We're going to play in an arena with just us, trainers, the camera guys and the media guys. What if one person gets sick and there's nobody (else there)? All it takes is one person. After the game, you've still got to go home. What if one person gets sick? Then we start from zero again."

The sentiment was echoed by National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts, who said NBA's "bubble" plan to put all teams gather in a single area is unsettling.

"Are we going to arm guards around the hotel?"  Roberts asked ESPN. "That sounds like incarceration to me."

"This is a world with the virus," Roberts said. "And we have to figure out a way to work, play and live in a world with the virus. The questions have now evolved from, 'Are we going to play again?' to, 'If we play, what are the risks going to look like?'"

The 2019-20 NBA season was suspended in March with five regular-season games and two months of play-offs remaining.