Shareef O’Neal was among those who reached out to Bronny James after his cardiac arrest, offering advice and support to the 18-year-old. Having undergone heart surgery and a challenging recovery himself, Shareef understood the experience and fear more than anyone. At just 18 years old, he had his own hesitations about the procedure, even considering delaying it. However, it was a mention of LeBron James that ultimately calmed his fears.

Speaking on an episode of At The Buzzer, Shareef shared what the process had been like for him. He recounted discussing with doctors his wish to postpone the surgery by two months. That’s when the doctors asked him who his favorite player was. Without hesitation, he named LeBron James, snubbing his father, Shaquille O’Neal. In response, the doctor reassured him by saying that he was “LeBron James of heart surgeries.”

“That’s the only thing he really said and I was like s**t. I was like that’s crazy,” he said.

Shareef admitted that the remark, though odd, helped ease his anxieties. It also reassured his father, Shaquille O’Neal, who had been equally worried. “When he said that my dad was just like yo this the guy. Him,” O’Neal recalled on the Clutch Points’ podcast. “Yeah he’s like I’m the best like heart surgeon like in the West Coast. So he was a real solid dude.” 

The G-League Ignite star was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect in 2018 while at UCLA. In this condition, an artery grows in the wrong direction. While he entered college with dreams and hopes, he suddenly had to miss the entire 2018–19 season and an open-heart surgery surgery on top of that.

“He was born with it. He could’ve died from it. They let us know Shareef needed open-heart surgery. That made my heart break,” mom Shaunie Henderson had revealed. Understandably, the young athlete had been scared.

Shareef O’Neal had a tough time trusting the doctors 

It was a heartbreaking situation for an athlete. Despite regularly receiving a clean bill of health during heart check-ups, his condition was diagnosed unexpectedly after his trainer urged him to consult a specialist. The shock was understandable. 

“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 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 during an episode of the Then Rose Podcast. While Shareef had his mother by his side, the Los Angeles Lakers legend was on face time with him.

He recalled hiding under a table and covering his ears, unwilling to face reality. However, with time spent with family and a doctor’s odd but reassuring words, he was sure about his decision. After undergoing surgery in December of that year, he made a triumphant comeback in the opening game of the 2019–20 season. It seems like LeBron James is making an impact off the field as well.