“My Name Isn’t Shaq’s Son!”: Shareef O’Neal Discusses Growing Out of Lakers Legend Shaquille O’Neal’s Shadow

The 23-year-old Shareef O’Neal recently appeared on the “Now for Later” podcast. Growing up as LA Lakers’ legend Shaquille O’Neal’s son, Shareef has had more than a fair share of attention on his career. Currently playing for the NBA G League Ignite, Shareef claimed that he had his own set of challenges during childhood. This included dealing with fake friends and struggling to come out of his father’s shadow.

Apart from being one of the most dominant NBA players ever, Shaq is also a bonafide philanthropist. He has acted in multiple movies and TV series. He continues to be a massive public figure even all these years after retirement. Just like kids of quite a few celebrities, Shareef has also struggled to break out of his father’s shadow.

Shareef O’Neal does not want to be remembered as only “Shaq’s son”

Shareef might not have struggled in the same way as most kids do. However, he had his own types of problems while growing up. Speaking on the podcast, Shareef O’Neal claimed that most conversations he has are about his father.

He also claimed that he had to contend with a lot of “fake friends’” simply because of who his father was. Finally, the 23-year-old also said that he never responds yes to people who ask him about being Shaq’s son:

“I feel like a lot of conversations I have are based off of him. A lot of people will come up to me and say, ‘Ohh, are you Shaq’s son?’ I don’t say yes or no, I just say, ‘I am Shareef. My name isn’t Shaq’s son.’ Like, literally that’s not my name.”

There is little doubt that Shareef is bound to struggle with the extra attention he receives due to his dad. Now 23, he had the opportunity to join the 2022 NBA draft but has decided to continue working on his game for the time being.

Shareef struggled with fake friends due to Shaquille O’Neal

In the same podcast, Shareef explained that he struggled with fake friends when he was little. Back in school, people would often try to be friends with him only because of his family.

As a matter of fact, Shareef had decided to not tell one of his friends in middle school about his father. This was because he was used to people treating him differently once they realized he was Shaq’s son.

Shaquille O’Neal is easily one of the most popular retired NBA players of all time. His illustrious NBA career, philanthropy, and his career as an analyst means that he is just as popular today, as he was during his playing days.