Shaquille O’Neal’s Son Shareef Discards LeBron James’ False 2010 Dunk Contest Promise To Laugh At The Size Of His Own Head

Joseph Galizia | 08/04/2025
Shareef O'Neal and Shaquille O'Neal (L), LeBron James (R)

Not everything has to be serious. Shareef O’Neal understands this, especially when he sees a clip of himself from the archives of NBA history. Shaq’s son took to his Instagram stories and commented on a throwback video of the 2009 dunk contest. The 25-year-old was pictured alongside LeBron James, who did the most LeBron thing ever at the time.

At the 2009 dunk contest, LBJ famously said he would compete in the 2010 slam dunk contest — even promising it to fans around the world. Unfortunately, that was just one of LeBron’s famous lies, as he opted out in 2010 after claiming that he only liked to dunk during games. So Shareef had every opportunity to call out The King, but instead decided to poke fun at himself instead.

“My head was huge,” joked the former G-League star, who added two laughing emojis to properly accentuate his point.

The image he shared didn’t do himself any favors. LeBron takes the center of the frame, making his “promise” while Shareef’s head takes up the bottom right-hand corner. For only being 10 years old at the time that is one huge knocker.

It’s nice that Shareef has a great sense of humor about tiny things like this, especially in the current landscape of social media trolling. The photo is also a real blast from the past, considering who else makes a cameo in it.

Gary Payton II is in the bottom left corner of the image. The future NBA star was only 17 years old at the time. Fortunately, he has a much smaller head than Shareef.

Shareef O’Neal’s post is a reminder of the death of the dunk contest

The dunk contest used to be one of All-Star Weekend’s biggest attractions. Legends like Dominique Wilkins, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, and Michael Jordan happily lent their time to try and best their adversaries in a different facet of the game.

But the 2009 contest and one of the first LeBron lies could mark the downfall. The contest has since become a showcase for role players but severely lacks superstar names. The King will go down in history for achieving many great things in the NBA. Destroying the prestige of the dunk contest might be one of them.

This year, Mac McClung won his third consecutive contest, a feat never achieved before in NBA history. Where is Mac for the rest of the NBA season? Playing in the G-League.

As Air Canada once famously did in the 2000 NBA contest. “It’s over.”

Post Edited By: Sameen Nawathe
LeBron James Shareef O'Neal Vince Carter

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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