Shareef O’Neal wants to follow in his father’s footsteps to become an NBA pro, but does he have what it takes to be like Big Shaq? The 22-year-old has decided to test the waters and is part of the NBA 2022 draft, but his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer father isn’t too happy about it

“He didn’t like that idea at all”, Shareef said of Shaqueel, adding, “but I’m a grown man, I’m 22 years old, I can make my own decisions” while speaking in a video news conference. 

Born in Los Angeles on January 11, 2000, Shareef initially didn’t have much interest in basketball and preferred skateboarding. However, he had a disappointing performance in middle school which prompted Shaq’s son to set about proving everyone wrong. Shareef began training in earnest at the age of 13 and was able to dunk at the time. 

In his freshman year, Shareef attended the Windward School in Los Angeles and played the forward position. Highlights of his game catapulted him to quick internet popularity, and Shareef appeared in The Washington Post. 

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However, his first year was more of a learning curve, preparing him for a larger role in the team. Shareef came into this in the next season and stayed with Windward as a sophomore, and eventually moved to Santa Monica’s Crossroads School. 

As a senior, Shareef was ranked as one of the top basketball players in his class. His college career was partly at UCLA before Shareef transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU). It was during his time at UCLA that Shareef started developing some health issues and doctors gave him a heart monitor. 

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Referring to his determination to go for things, he said in the video news conference, “That’s just how I’m built. I take everything the same way. I took my heart surgery the same way. Being cleared was right in front of me, being healthy was right in front of me, and I went for it.” 

Now that he’s readying to be drafted, Shareef knows he has to carve his own identity, separate from that of his father’s. Speaking about it, Shaq’s son said, “I know it’s always going to be there, the comparison. Every kid is going to get compared to their dad who does the same thing as them. So that’s going to be there.”