In 2022, Shaquille O’Neal’s son Shareef had declared for the NBA draft despite knowing deep inside that his dreams about playing in the league were far-fetched. Shareef took time to recover from the open-heart surgery he underwent in 2018. Though his eventual return to the court was much celebrated, the impact was never the same. And due to all that, he almost left for Australia, had Shaq and Shaunie Henderson not vetoed it.
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Shareef had averaged 2.6 points and 3.0 rebounds in his three years at UCLA and LSU. No NBA team would have touched him.
“I know I’m not gonna get drafted. I already knew this before I declared,” Shareef shared on The Buzzer podcast.
His plan was to get into the G League camp, train well, and join some summer league side. With a strong double-double showing at the camp, he earned a spot on the Lakers’ Summer League roster. After that stint, he was picked up by the developmental side, G League Ignite, with whom he averaged 5.6 points and 3.2 rebounds.
However, Shareef found himself out of contract after the 2022-23 season. This was around the time when Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) approached him. Shareef was interested. Shaq wasn’t.
When Shareef broached the topic with O’Neal, it was met with skepticism: “You really want to go to Australia?” Shaq had asked his son.
“I want to leave America. These past few years of my life, I don’t know, like I might as well live my life now. I already just went through whatever I went through and I was like, you know, sh*t’s not working out over here,” was Shareef’s reply.
Shareef shared how Shaq, as well as mom Shaunie, were both against it. And the NBA legend talked his son out of the Australia adventure he was bent on going.
“He’s like me and your mom talked about it. We’re not gonna let you go to Australia. That’s too far like damn, speaking to everything that happened, like the closest person to you is a 16-18 hour flight. He’s like we’re not going for that,” recalled Shareef.
Despite differences, Shaq and Shaunie have always presented a united front when it comes to their kids. They collectively decided against sending their son halfway across the world. Shaq, on his part, opened up a new avenue for Shareef.
O’Neal offered Shareef a job at Reebok to keep him in USA
In the summer of 2023, about the time Shareef was mulling a shift Down Under, Shaq was about to be named the President of Basketball Operations at Reebok. He offered his son a job in it.
Shareef recollected the offer Shaq made at the time:
I know I always make fun of what you wear, but I really want you to help rebrand Reebok. I want your help with the shoes, the clothes, and you know, like helping us sign players.”
Besides the job, Shaq also suggested that Shareef should either stay in Boston or Miami to work on his game.
“He’s like, you live in Boston or Miami. He’s like, if you do this, you know, you could train all you want but he’s like just do this for me. I’ll get you a place to stay in either Boston or Miami. He’s like just work for me,” recalled Shareef.
The idea of living in Miami appealed to the youngster. Shareef is based there now, pitching in his dad’s efforts toward rebranding Reebok. The mission is to make Reebok competitive and take on Nike and the Jordans, and achieve an average yearly revenue of $10 billion by 2027.
