If you know Shareef O’Neal, he looks like a guy who doesn’t live with regrets. Diagnosed with anomalous coronary artery at the start of college, Shaquille O’Neal’s son bounced back from open heart surgery to pursue his basketball dreams. Despite going undrafted, never making it out of the G-League, and most recently getting waived by Sacramento, Shareef rarely spoke about regrets. On Netflix’s Power Moves, he pretty much defied his dad to go to the NBA. Yet for once, his short NBA stint left him with regret.

Shareef posted on his Stories, “I’ll never forgive myself for missing this in game,” on a certain clip. It’s from two years ago, the 2023 G-League Next Up game to be precise. Shareef had just gone underafted the summer before and signed with G-League Ignite. He proceeded to play in the inaugural G-League event that year.

The closest Shareef came to his dad’s 15 All-Star appearances was during the Next Up game during the All-Star Weekend in Utah. He was on Team Luka, Garza not Doncic, that played against Team Scoot led by Scoot Henderson. Shareef was the highlight of this game.

As if possessed by Big Diesel, he had dunks after dunks. He made most. But he happened to miss one shot as he posted on his Story. It apparently haunts him even today.

Team Luka beat Team Scoot for a score no one would expect in the G-League. 178-162! Garza was the MVP but Shareef was the one who went viral.

Barring this very on-brand O’Neal moment, Shareef has usually lived without regrets.

Shaq didn’t want Shareef to go through more hardship

In 2023, Shareef O’Neal was almost ready to quit the G-League and consequently the NBA. He planned to go to Australia to play professional basketball overseas. His dad wouldn’t let him.

Shaquille O’Neal has been a protective dad since Shareef’s heart condition. He had even argued with Shareef about entering the 2022 draft instead of completing college. He very subtly discouraged Shareef from playing basketball and maybe exacerbating his health (there’s never been any indication his heart condition has hampered him post-surgery) by steering him into the sneaker business. When Shaq returned to Reebok in 2023, he appointed Shareef as his youth whisperer, to get into the minds of their young customers.

On Power Moves, we saw Shareef hesitate to tell Shaq about the opportunity to sign with the Sacramento Kings. O’Neal didn’t want his six kinds to experience the same regrets he does. “Are you ready to live that life? Because if you want to be great, my man, you’ve gotta sacrifice everything. I’ve lost a family trying to be great,” he had told Shareef after recalling how he missed time with family while chasing rings.

Shareef still left Reebok, signed with Sacramento, was sent to the G-League again and waived in a day. But he didn’t dwell on it too long. Shaq appointed Shareef as the creative strategist and heir apparent of the SHAQ brand, his affordable sneaker brand. We assume there would be very little regrets in this biz.