Did Shaqir O’Neal just show a flash of his father? The Big Aristotle has a lot to keep up with this season. On November 11, Shaqir, who plays for the Florida A&M men’s basketball team, faced off against Maryland at the XFINITY Center. Unfortunately, Florida lost 53-84, extending their losing record to 0-3. The defeat took place despite the team having a 39-34 rebounding advantage. Yet the youngest O’Neal boy impressed people with one of his best slam dunk moments in the 27 minutes he played.

Shaqir was one of the game leaders in scoring, along with Tyler Shirley and Milton Matthews. The 21-year-old scored 9 points in the game, and in one standout moment, he received a quick pass and made a two-handed dunk. The highlight even reached the official FAMU page. The first to praise the impressive slam in the O’Neal family was the eldest, Myles O’Neal. He had shared the post on his IG story and tagged his little brother.

LeBron James, potentially catching the action himself, reshared the same clip on his IG story with a celebratory “ayyyyyyeeeeee.” However, Shaqir’s mother, Shaunie, who previously expressed regret over missing her son’s game, has yet to comment or praise him publicly. Perhaps she has done so privately.

Shaqir O’Neal’s stats from the game:

• Pts: 9
• FGM: 3
• 3FGM: 0
• FTM: 3
• Min: 27

On Nov. 7, Shaunie Henderson was present at Me’Arah’s game as the young talent showed off the innate basketball genes she carries. Her team, the Florida Gators, won 102-67 over the Florida A&M, where she dropped 6 points and 2 rebounds and assists each in 17 minutes.

Further, Shaqir’s father Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t responded on social media either, though he was present at his son’s recent game, as per Myles O’Neals’ Instagram story, despite initially saying otherwise. Now, Shaqir’s dunk also reminds us of one of Shaq’s famous dunks.

Back in 1993, when Shaquille O’Neal was with the Orlando Magic, he had to play against the New Jersey Nets. In that game, he dunked the ball so hard that the blackboard fell onto the ground. “Hold on to the roof! The Shaq attack,” the commentator yelled in surprise and the entire crowd cheered.

Well, O’Neal’s team won the game 119-116 and earned a then-franchise record 40th win. Now, Shaqir may have not broken the blackboard, but with his dunk, people couldn’t help but remember his father. 

Shaquille O’Neal made an appearance for his son Shaqir O’Neal’s game 

In a previous episode of WNBA star Angel Reese’s podcast, Shaquille O’Neal admitted that he doesn’t usually watch college basketball, nor does he attend his kids’ games. This was also a fact he revealed when he went to watch the Chicago Sky star play in their final regular season showdown against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. But he still didn’t want to go to his children’s NCAA games.

When asked why he often misses his children’s games, Shaq explained that his presence tends to affect their performance negatively.

“When I watch my kids play, they don’t play well. I make a lot of faces. So, the certain faces I make probably seem like I’m me. They don’t play well around me. They are 18 now and they’re grown. They know, as a father, if they need me, I’ll always be there. But I just let them live that life,” O’Neal said on the podcast.

Nonetheless, he decided to attend his son Shaqir’s game, and his son seems to have done quite well. FAMU’s next game is against the University of Florida on Nov. 19. It will be interesting to see how things go, considering FAMU has lost twice to the University of Florida since November 2022.