In 2023, Angel Reese gained national attention, and Shaquille O’Neal has had her back ever since. Reese’s journey to the WNBA has been anything but smooth sailing since taking LSU to a championship. The high expectations, becoming the face of Reebok’s revival, and unfathomable online scrutiny came to a head when she missed four games for the Tigers. When she came back, it was with a lot of support from Shaq. Over two years later, O’Neal shares his perspective on that.

The Las Vegas Aces assistant coach, Tyrone Ellis, during the Straight Game Podcast, first commended Shaq for standing up against RG3 in the Reese drama. At this point, O’Neal had to make it clear that his care for Reese goes beyond a fellow LSU alum. “Angel reminds me of me. She plays how she plays, doesn’t matter what people say, doesn’t matter people think,” Shaq said like a proud uncle. “She plays with a certain spirit, with a certain ferocity, and I respect that about her.”

When she was still at LSU, O’Neal was only a phone call away from her. So when the pressure got to the reigning champ, Shaq intervened. “When she was going through her stuff at LSU, you know what a lot of us don’t understand that, if the coaches can get on us, he can control the team. So, her and her coach had a little spat. She was getting ready to go off, and I had to call and explain to her. I said, ‘Listen, it’s all part of the game. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. So these are things you have to go through.'”

Angel Reese missed four consecutive games in November 2023. At that time, no reason was specified. Rumors claimed it was related to poor academic performance. Both Reese and O’Neal have since spoken about the incident and more or less confirmed there was a locker room incident with Tigers Head Coach, Kim Mulkey.

All parties clarified that Mulkey didn’t bench her, but it was Shaq’s phone call that made Reese step back for her mental health. When she came back, one of the first things Reese did was thank Shaq.

Angel Reese values Shaquille O’Neal’s help

Straight off their championship in 2023, the Tigers lost their season-opener to Colorado. Angel Reese came under fire then for seemingly being more focused on her online fame than the game. Reese had been announced as Reebok’s first NIL athlete in October. She addressed the harsh commentary about her in a very emotional return to the court in December 2023.

While saying she and Mulkey mutually decided she needed to prioritize her mental health, Reese said, “I talked to Shaq every day. We facetime every day. He checked on me, called me every single day to make sure I was good. He told me every day, ‘This too shall pass. This too shall pass. This too shall pass.’ He’s been here before. He knows what it takes. Just being able to have somebody like that was something that was good for me.”

Shaquille O’Neal had been defending her publicly since the ‘Can you see me’ drama with Caitlin Clark. He told Ellis at the recent podcast, “I kind of wanted to be her mentor and just, you know, help her get through things. What young people don’t understand is the stuff that you’re about to get into, we’ve already been through. You want to get through it easier, listen to the OG when we give you some advice.”

Reese, as per O’Neal, has been very good at listening. Even before we saw it on Netflix’s Power Moves, Angel heeded Shaq’s principle to think beyond basketball. So she’s been learning the ropes of the sneaker business at Reebok while also designing her line.

Injuries and breaks have marred her sophomore season with the Chicago Sky once more. But her new sneakers, the Reebok Angel Reese 1s, are stealing the attention. Including when she debuted the ‘Charm City’ collection at her recent comeback. This time, she handled the attention on her own without Unc Shaq’s help.