Shaquille O’Neal’s Son Shareef Confesses He Wasn’t Pampered as a Kid, Had to ‘Earn’ New Shoes or Video Games

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal is known for giving back to those who are unfortunate. However, his son, Shareef O’Neal admits that his parents made his siblings and him go against the grain to ‘earn’ the things that they wanted.

Shareef joined the Then They Rose podcast, and opened up about his life in basketball along with his health complications. While discussing the stages of his early life, he was candid about the treatment he received from his parents as a child.

“Everything we wanted from them we had to work for. You want these new shoes? You got to have a great basketball game or bring home perfect grades or clean the house. They did an awesome job of raising us to work for things that we wanted,” said Shareef.

The parenting tactics that Shaq and his ex-wife Shaunie Henderson implanted with their children aren’t new but an extension of the way their parents raised them.

Shaq has gone on record countless times, giving credit to his father for the person he is today. His father carried a drill sergeant approach in terms of rules such as “You don’t speak until you’re spoken to”.

Shareef has mentioned how he’s grateful to his father, and claimed he planned to borrow a few parenting styles from him as well.

“My dad is like we’re going to pick up all this trash on the beach, and then y’all can get a new pair of shoes or a new video game. We always had to work for something, and I like that they did that. I’ll probably do the same thing when I have children one day,” said Shareef.

These rules that Shaq implemented in raising Shareef allowed him to become the person he is today. Shareef rose to basketball stardom in high school as a four-star prospect. However, a health scare involving open-heart surgery significantly derailed his basketball career.

Despite at one point being in a convincing position to quit basketball, he continued to pursue his dream. Shareef has yet to play an NBA game, but most recently suited up for the now defunct G-League Ignite in the 2022-23 season.