Shareef O’Neal, son of NBA legend, Shaquille O’Neal recently made the summer league roster of the Los Angeles Lakers. After 3 difficult seasons with UCLA and LSU, Shareef went undrafted this year. Shaquille O’Neal helped the Lakers win 3 straight championships from 2000 to 2002. He was also the Finals MVP on all 3 occasions.
Such was the dominance of prime Shaq. While it might not be easy for anyone to reach the heights of Shaq, it is tougher to be the son of an NBA legend. The pressure is huge and great things are expected from him.
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Now, O’Neal’s daughter, Me’arah, is grabbing headlines with her superhuman abilities. A video of her dunking the basketball at just 13 has been doing the rounds recently. And it has shocked fans around the world. Standing at 6’3” Me’arah O’Neal could be seen dunking the ball, with her brother watching. And her brother couldn’t believe what she had just done. To put things into perspective, Shaq didn’t dunk till he was a senior in high school.
Me’arah attends Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California. As a freshman, she started in all 24 games and averaged 5.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 2.5 blocks per game.
READ MORE – LSU Tigers’ Shareef O’Neal Reveals His Journey of Overcoming Heart Problems From the Age of Five
She helped her team to a 19–5 record and the state quarterfinals. It will be interesting to see Me’arah’s basketball future unfold. And she has his father for all the advice she’d need about basketball.
Shaq didn’t want Shareef O’Neal to enter the NBA draft
Shaquille O’Neal has coached his son Shareef throughout the years, both individually and in team setups. But the Lakers legend didn’t want Shareef to enter the NBA draft. After working out for the Lakers, he disclosed that his father didn’t want him to enter the draft after his junior year at LSU.
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“We kind of bump heads about this process,” Shareef said. “He wanted me to stay in school. I wanted to better myself through this. He knows I’m working out with teams. But I’m not going to lie, we ain’t talked about this. I’m kind of just going through it. He didn’t do any pre-draft workouts; he just got straight on the [Orlando Magic], so it’s a different grind…”
The younger O’Neal said that Shaq didn’t like the idea but said that he’s a grown man and he can make his own decisions. And like he clearly pointed out, he and his father aren’t the same.
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Shaq was the #1 draft pick. He also had a great college career. Shareef, on the other hand, averaged only 2.6 points per game in 37 games over the three seasons. So it will be interesting to see how well he does with the Lakers.