Shareef O’Neal is blazing his own path after overcoming several struggles. But it’s undoubtedly difficult to step out of the shadow of a superstar dad. Despite how difficult it is to shake off the tag, Shareef is determined to not be remembered as “Shaq’s son.” Shaquille O’Neal has spent his post-NBA life pursuing a multi-faceted career. To no fault of his own, his children do grapple with being in the 7-foot-tall giant’s magnanimous shadow. Nonetheless, Shareef is determined to make his own identity.

The 23-year-old recently got candid with Eric Mika about his life on a podcast. He recovered from heart surgery to prove himself a force in college basketball. He now plays in the NBA G-League and is aspiring for bigger dreams.

Shareef O’Neal is making his own identity

Eric Mika asked some deep questions to Shareef O’Neal when he guested on Now For Later this week. When asked what is the one ‘red flag’ that gives away a person’s true nature to him, he had an instant answer. “Yeah, like, ‘where’s your dad,’ ‘how is he as a person,’ ‘does he actually act like that.'”

When he gets questioned about Shaquille O’Neal, the 23-year-old definitely checks out of the conversation.

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His perspective is understandable. Shareef figures out quickly that the people coming up to him only want to talk about his dad instead of getting to know him as a person.

Shareef also revealed how he’s learned to handle this kind of attention. When someone comes up to him to ask if he’s Shaq’s son, “I don’t say yes or no. I just say ‘I’m Shareef.’ My name isn’t Shaq’s son. That’s literally not my name.”

This is also a fairly new development. This has been his go-to response for about a month or two before this interview. He’s making sure everyone knows he’s his own person for sure.

Basketball has been calling for all of his life, but not only because of his parents. He went undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft but signed with the NBA G-League Ignite. Shareef could potentially even make it to the NBA on his own and will definitely be known as the one and only Shareef O’Neal in the near future.

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Shareef realizes his dreams through health struggles

After red-shirting for the UCLA Bruins, Shareef underwent heart surgery in December 2018. He still continued to play with a medical device on. He transferred schools and continued his college career with the LSU Tigers.

Shareef’s dad had a $3 million worth of property in Las Vegas listed for sale before. But when Shareef signed with the G-League, Shaquille decided to take the property off the market.

Shaq snagged the lavish 5,900 sq. ft estate in 2019 for a cool $1.95 million. He spent an additional $750,000 to remodel it and was set to flip it for almost double the price. Now that Shareef is signed with a Henderson-based team, Shaq kept the mansion as a nest egg for his son.

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