Through Shareef’s social media posts, the self-made ‘Zipper Boy’ jokes, the instances of his parents talking about it too, we never realize how terrifying it would’ve been when the O’Neal family found out his heart condition was worse than they thought. Shaquille O’Neal’s son was on track to dominate in college basketball when he found out about his heart condition. While at UCLA in 2018, he thought the heart monitor and medical attention wouldn’t come in the way of his college debut. He got candid on the Then They Rose podcast that he had a hard time accepting the news from the doctor.

Shareef was monitored, and he was under the impression that his condition wouldn’t hamper him until the UCLA staff directed him to a specialist. It was so sudden, that Shaq couldn’t be there physically, and had to Facetime him. His mother, Shaunie, was still based in California then and was with him. He initially didn’t think it would be serious.

“I think what kind of made me feel better is I went through all those years of getting cleared and cleared and cleared and I thought that was just the the way I got cleared…just that one test [stress test] that they found the problem I had so it kind of made me feel like I was being lied to my whole life by professional doctors,” he said.

He further says his heart condition was always on his mind. He had done several tests and was cleared every time, which gave him a false sense of safety. But doctors found the results of his stress test troubling and he was told he needs open heart surgery to treat his anomalous coronary artery. Shareef, however, didn’t accept it immediately.

Shareef had emerged as a top prospect at Crossroads High School and was ranked at #32 by ESPN. At UCLA, he was expecting to find out when he was going to play his first game with the Bruins. Instead, UCLA would state that Shareef would miss the 2018-19 season for medical reasons.

His feelings are understandable. Shareef realized he thought he was fine when he was not. He got surgery that December, a month before his 19th birthday. This time Shaq was present in person with Shaunie and helped him through it. But the first few minutes of diagnosis would remain a lasting memory.

Shaq’s son is relieved at how things turned out

Shareef vividly recalled

hiding under the table, covering his ears, crying, and denying the reality. Shaunie narrated the same scene in her memoir, Undefeated. He felt the doctors had lied to him because they had put him through a battery of tests that cleared him. But it took one specific test to burst his illusion. He became a remarkable example, recovering from this setback and returning to the court in a year. He finally made his debut in the opening game of the 2019-20 season.

But after limited minutes, Shareef transferred to LSU. He’d go on to practice with the Lakers, go undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft, and play in the G-League. With the benefit of hindsight, Shareef admits that the doctors didn’t lie to him. He just didn’t think about it and he’s glad he found out from doctors and not in a worst-case scenario.