The journey of Shareef O’Neal, son of Shaquille O’Neal is quite tremendous. He underwent heart surgery in 2018, which potentially ended his basketball career even before it began. It was undoubtedly a testing time for the entire O’Neal family. And one of Shareef’s biggest supporters came in the form of his dad’s former teammate, the late great Kobe Bryant.

Shareef O’Neal underwent a lot of training and recovery and he even played in the G League. But he says that he felt it was very difficult during his recovery days and it was Kobe Bryant who actually checked up on him during his troubles.

Shareef reveals that his dad’s old teammate, Kobe Bryant helped him through tough times

Shareef reveals how Kobe helped him through those tough times. Kobe Bryant used to text him to make sure that he was okay.

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He added, “He was one person who always checked in with me, Like every single day of my [open heart] surgery, he would always message me, ‘How you doing today?’ He always looked out for me, made sure I was good.”

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Anytime I needed to get in the gym he said, ‘Oh yeah, you can call me. You know where I am,’ if he was busy. He always looked out for sure — me and my siblings.

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Despite the feud between the two former teammates, they always looked out for each other’s kids. And after hashing out their differences, they became close friends again. And Bryant formed a deep bond with Shaquille O’Neal’s kids.

After going undrafted this year, Shareef O’Neal got an opportunity to play for the Los Angeles Lakers in the G League. He has had a difficult journey as he has had to battle injuries in back-to-back years. But he has impressed with his work ethic during the summer league and NBA teams may be looking to add him to their G League teams or on two-way contracts. Shareef is well on his way to emulating his dad’s footsteps and getting to the NBA.

Do you think we will see Shareef O’Neal in the NBA one day soon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.