Shaq's son would rather play for his favorite team than LeBron James
Shareef O’Neal, son of basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, has a preferred team in mind when he gets to the NBA.
TMZ Sports reports the soon-to-be one-and-done University of Arizona commit is hoping to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, where his dad won three championships more than a decade ago.
Even though the younger O’Neal is a self-admitted fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers and considers LeBron James his favorite player, he would much rather play alongside the likes of Lonzo Ball — and, if the rumors are true, any of a slew of current NBA stars said to be considering life in Tinseltown when they become free agents, including James and the Thunder’s Paul George.
Of course, a lot can happen between a high school kid saying something to the media and the actual NBA draft. If the Lakers continue to be one of the league’s worst teams, they might have a shot if O’Neal ends up excelling in college.
But if he’s the real deal and the Lakers improve in the standings, there are 29 other places he could end up.
O’Neal has been in the news lately as much for the controversy between his father and the infamous LaVar Ball, with Ball claiming that his son, LaMelo, is the superior of the two players.
That debate certainly won’t be settled in the college ranks. LaMelo Ball’s eligibility is gone after his dad shipped him off to BC Prienai-Birstonas of the Lithuanian league along with his older brother LiAngelo, and if the brothers’ struggles in Europe are as toxic to their draft stock as the early reports seem to indicate, we might not even see them match up in the NBA.
Meanwhile, the Lakers are an interesting fit for O’Neal, who at 6-foot-9 is four inches shorter than his 7-foot-1 pop. With his seven-foot wingspan, Shareef O’Neal has a forward’s body, and that’s where he could run into trouble finding a good fit with the Lakers.
After all, the Lakers have Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma in their frontcourt. Both are 6-foot-9 and both look like players of the future on the Staples Center floor as the Lakers’ young core continues to grow and develop.
If Los Angeles continues to be terrible even as far out as 2019 — when O’Neal will enter the draft — it’s hard to see them drafting a guy who plays the same position as two guys they already have sharing the floor. Unless O’Neal has a growth spurt, gains about a hundred pounds, and turns into a clone of his dad, it’s just not a good fit.
Where O’Neal would fit brilliantly would be a place like Phoenix, where Devin Booker and T.J. Warren could use a stretch four on their team to space the floor and provide protection on defense with those long arms. It’s also how O’Neal’s father was used late in his career.
And speaking of teams where Shaq made an impact and where his son could make a similar splash in the 2019 draft, how about Miami, where the Heat’s biggest weakness is the power forward position and where Shaq won a title in 2006?
But let’s cut the younger O’Neal some slack. This isn’t the kid yelling like LaVar Ball did about Lonzo before the 2017 draft that the Lakers better draft him or he won’t sign with them.
This is the son of a Hall of Famer, still in high school, making a wishlist for who he’d play for the way high school kids in Los Angeles with hoop dreams in the ’80s dreamed of playing alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Plus, there’s still the matter of the kid actually going to college for a year and playing well enough to attract the Lakers’ (or any other team’s) attention first.
No matter where he ends up, O’Neal will join a league with sons of stars showing up in the highlights. Tim Hardaway Jr., Larry Nance Jr., and Glenn Robinson III have all seen NBA action, so what’s one more echo of a golden age?
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