LSU Tigers’ Shareef O’Neal Pays a Heartwarming Tribute to Father Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant

The LSU Tigers begin their season tonight with a clash against the SIU Edwardsville Cougars. The latest star on the Tigers roster is Shareef O’Neal, son of Hall of Famer and former Tiger Shaquille O’Neal. As he enters his sophomore season, he has chosen the number 32 as a tribute to his father and Kobe Bryant.

Kobe donned the number 8 and 24 during his career with the Lakers. Shaq wore the number 32 when he played with the Magic. He couldn’t wear 32 at the Lakers since it was retired for Magic Johnson.

Shareef was very close to Bryant and shared an uncle-nephew relationship with him. Following Bryant’s death, Shareef was devastated, and since then, he has been taking every chance he can to pay tribute to Kobe.

Shareef previously wore the number 22 last season with the UCLA Bruins. After having a tough season, he decided to transfer to where his father began his journey towards becoming a Hall of Famer. His sister Amirah has also committed to LSU and will be part of the women’s basketball team.

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Can Shareef O’Neal push LSU into the Top 25?

In the preseason AP Poll, the LSU Tigers were placed just outside the Top 25. With 146 votes, they ended up just 14 votes behind Michigan who had 160. Last season, they were ranked 22nd and went as high as 18th. This season, they will be aiming to prove their voters wrong, and bounce back into the top 25.

But it will be tougher for them, since their best player from the 2019-20 season, Skylar Mays, has left the team now. After declaring for the 2020 NBA Draft, he went undrafted before signing a two-way contract with the Atlanta Hawks. Trendon Watford will be expected to step up as the leader and fill in the void for the Mays.

During his freshman season, Shareef barely played 10 minutes per game and averaged 2.2 points per game while shooting 32%. It will be interesting to see how coach Will Wade plans to fit O’Neal in the team, and what role he is given. He was ESPN’s No. 32-ranked prospect in the Class of 2018 but fell off later.

Hopefully, Shareef will be able to get back to form and push for a starting spot with the Tigers.