“My message to little kids who aspire to be anything they want to be is to listen to their parents,” Shaquille O’Neal said in his autobiography Shaq Uncut. This book brings forth several aspects of 4X NBA champ’s life, from his struggles to his triumphs. As he conveyed his thoughts in his message, O’Neal hoped to inspire children to pursue their passions. Nearly 14 years later, a child who was inspired by that very book stood before him. O’Neal must have felt immense pride seeing the young man who followed in his footsteps.

NBA G League player Armando Bacot acknowledged O’Neal’s influence on his life when host Adam Lefkoe asked whether he had watched O’Neal’s games growing up. “Yeah I mean that’s really where I got to start. I can remember around the time I was 12 years old I read the Shaq Uncut book and that’s actually why I started playing basketball,” he said. 

When Lefkoe urged to share a particular experience, Bacot said, “I can remember it was talking about when you (Shaq) were in Germany I think or something like that it was so long ago this was like 12 years ago but just hearing about how much he love basketball growing up and the story and all that stuff in there.”

“I remember all of that so it inspired me because I was just playing football at the time and obviously I was a bigger kid but I told my mom like I want to play basketball after that and that’s what really got me started,” he added. 

O’Neal’s autobiography, written by Jackie MacMullan, was launched in 2011. Bacot, who was just 12 at the time, said that Shaq Uncut inspired him to pursue basketball. It seems O’Neal’s wish for the book has been fulfilled. “I appreciate that,” the Los Angeles Lakers legend said. Speaking of Bacot, the Lakers legend had high praise for the G League player but also offered him one piece of advice. 

Shaquille O’Neal’s advice for Armando Bacot to stop being the nice guy

He noted that Bacot reminded him of his own son, and the one thing he wanted him to change was being too nice. “You remind me of my son, well-spoken, good looking, beautiful individual. But you’re too nice. So after this weekend (NBA All-Star Weekend), when you get back, you kick A– and you f—— take names. No more Mr. Nice Guy.”

He added that Bacot should use going undrafted as fuel to ignite his competitive fire. “You should use motivation that upsets you, but when you get upset, you use that being upset as fuel. You’re such a nice kid. You should have been drafted. But this is business. All the adults here know when it comes time to take care of business, we don’t do nice things. So that’s my advice to you, no more being Mr. Nice Guy.”

Bacot’s journey has also been inspiring. Playing for UNC, he has achieved immense success with Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). As per SI, he has had several deals and earned more than $2 million. He formed partnerships with a Kentucky farm, a tech company, and Topps. He made a whopping $21,000 with the sale of his T-shirts. On the Run Your Race podcast, he also revealed his investments in hotels. 

“I just bought a hotel, invested in a hotel with my roommate because his dad owns a lot of hotels… that was huge for me. Invested in athletes organization, player association with the goal of them being like the people who license the deals for college athletes and do a lot of the agreement with that,” Bacot said. 

After going undrafted in the 2024 NBA Draft, he had an Exhibit 10 free-agent deal with the Utah Jazz. Now, as he is playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, we can only hope that the 24-year-old takes O’Neal’s advice to heart.