“The Killer, The NIL”: Shaquille O’Neal Openly Blames NILs For ‘Killing the Game’

Shaquille O’Neal featured Jamal Crawford on his recent episode of ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq‘ to reflect on some of the moments from their NBA careers. Shaq and Crawford are veteran NBA legends with plenty of experience to provide insight into the current state of basketball. The duo discussed the problem with AAU basketball that hinders the younger generation from becoming tougher players.

The generation in which Shaq and Crawford played was considered to be one of the toughest generations of the NBA. Scoring was difficult, and players had a genuine vision of proving themselves at the collegiate level before entering the league. However, the duo realized that many children are pressured by their parents to level their rankings and ratings early on. This problem, as Shaq and Crawford discussed, was related to parents vicariously wanting a lavish lifestyle off of their children’s successes.

Shaquille O’Neal talked about his son, Shareef O’Neal, who was also exposed to such expectations during high school. When Shareef was in his fifth grade, a parent from his school told Shaq that his son was the #1 fifth-grader of that time. However, Shaq wasn’t ready to give into such rankings and expectations. Recalling his reply to the parent, Shaq said,

“I’m like, ‘Bro, okay, and?’ I said, ‘No, you should let him be a kid’…What you should do is always encourage them.” 

Shaquille O’Neal believed that though kids should always strive for their maximum potential, parents, in return, should let their children blossom by themselves. The Big Aristotle also believed that the NIL deals have contributed to this mentality of parents,

“These parents, these rankings, these going virals and then these AAU coaches that got deals with these big programs. And you know, then they are promising stuff. And then the killer, the NIL.”

Shaquille O’Neal had also advised his son on choosing NIL deals and helped remind him of his privilege over other players. Shareef is among the few players, such as Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry, from basketball families with a lineage of professional players.

Shareef today plays in the NBA G-League Ignite team after he went undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2022 NBA Summer League and played college basketball for four seasons with UCLA and later with LSU.

Shaquille O’Neal’s father advised him against going pro in his sophomore year

Shaquille O’Neal later talked about his process of getting into the league after playing in his college career. Shaq’s stepfather, Sergeant Phillip Harrison, had advised him against going professional after his sophomore year.

This was because Shaq was yet to be mature enough to handle his affairs, such as balancing cheques and other accounts after he went professional. His parents were ready to spend an extra year being broke rather than letting Shaq into the professional world before he acquired the required skill sets.

In his junior year, Shaq took up classes for accounting and learned the basics of business before entering the league. He entered the 1992 draft after completing his third year, now fully equipped with the basics of being a professional in the field. That’s perhaps why Shaq developed incredible business acumen during his playing days, which proves to be one of his most important assets today.