Shaquille O’Neal’s Son Shareef Had A Unique Hero In Andrew Wiggins As He Continues To Look For Spot On Lakers

Shaquille O’Neal being one of the greatest Los Angeles Lakers players of all time put quite a bit of pressure on his son, Shareef O’Neal, to achieve a similar level of success. Coming out of high school, he was a highly touted recruit and considered to be one of the top HS players of his draft class. 

Unfortunately, due to a heart condition that required open heart surgery, he would be sidelined for the entirety of his freshman year at UCLA. He would play his sophomore year for the Bruins, putting up mediocre stats before entering the transfer portal and becoming an LSU Tiger, like his father before him. 

Shareef has had years to soak up as much basketball content as he possibly can. He’s subsequently found himself a few role models that he looks up to as well along the way.

Also read: WATCH: Shaquille O’Neal’s Son Shareef Hypes Himself Up After Massive Highlight in the G League

Shareef O’Neal looked up to Andrew Wiggins and highlight mixtape 

Andrew Wiggins was labelled as ‘Maple Jordan’ due to him resembling Michael Jordan and being from Canada. That’s how good of a player he was during his high school and collegiate days at the University of Kansas. His high school mixtape is still one of the greatest to this day, up there with the likes of Austin Rivers and Kyrie Irving’s. 

So, it should come to no one’s surprise that Shareef O’Neal was enamored by Wiggins’ highlights. He would take to Twitter in 2017 to let his followers know that he took a great deal of inspiration from the highlight reel while also professing the same for LeBron James. 

Wiggins of course, was selected 1st overall in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. After failing to bring the Wolves any championship aspirations alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, he was traded to the Golden State Warriors where he would win a title in 2022.

Shareef O’Neal and his recent play

Shareef O’Neal on the other hand, is still battling for a regular spot on an NBA roster. He’s currently in the G-League after having played for the Los Angeles Lakers during last year’s Summer League.

in 20 games for the G-League Ignite in 2022-23, Shareef has put up 5.6 points per game on 53.2% from the field in 15.5 minutes of play while grabbing a total of 3.2 rebounds. His assist to turnover ratio is a bit concerning as it delves into the negatives.

Also read: “Old man”: Shaquille O’Neal’s Son Shareef Teases Father On Instagram on 51st Birthday