The NBA legend's son underwent open-heart surgery in 2018.
Shaquille O'Neal's son, Shareef O'Neal, is opening up about undergoing open-heart surgery in 2018 when he was just 18 years old. The former UCLA/LSU player and now NBA G League player recalls thinking his basketball career was done and over with.
Speaking to his NBA G League teammate, Eric Mika, on Mika's Now For Later podcast, Shareef admitted to dreaming that his legacy would one day be defined by how he bounced back from heart surgery and realized his potential in spite of a scary ordeal that pumped the brakes on his collegiate sports journey at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"I want that to be a part of my path. Like, 'He went through this when he was young to kind of alter his path but he made it back to a straight pathway again,'" the 23-year-old athlete explained. "I feel like In 20 years I want to be known as that kid who fought back from something that was life-changing and made his dreams come true."
A few weeks before joining the UCLA team -- and coming in as the top-ranked basketball recruit in California -- Shareef was diagnosed with anomalous coronary artery, which Stanford Health describes as a coronary artery that has an abnormality or malformation.
"It was hard because I was ranked the No. 1 player in California at the time in my class," he shared. "And I was going to a school in California. So, the momentum was going really steep, like up, up hill. Everybody was excited. When they told me, I honestly thought I wasn’t gonna be able to play basketball again. This all happened within about three weeks before the season is starting."
He underwent a heart test during a routine team physical, which is rare considering teams don't typically perform those tests, Shareef said. But the team physician gave the test after Shareef told him his heart used to beat fast when he was a little kid. He said he was told he could chance it and hope nothing happens or undergo open-heart surgery to fix the artery.
"One thing they told me is a lot of people have this but they don’t know 'cause you have to do this one certain test," Shareef said. "So, you can play basketball for the rest of your life and you can possibly be fine, but one day it could happen. So, it’s kind of like you’re playing with your life if you choose not to get surgery."
Shareef said he cried during the initial diagnosis but was then fine up until he had to fly to Stanford for the surgery. That's when he said he broke down, thinking he would never play basketball again. He lost all confidence after the surgery when he tried to get up to go to the restroom but couldn't use his legs. He said he had to learn how to walk again, making him further question what he was going to do with his life.
The recovery was brutal. Before surgery, Shareef said he weighed 215 pounds. After surgery, his weight went down to around 170 pounds.
"You can see my ribs," he said. "I was super skinny."
Shareef said he was force-fed in the hospital because he had no appetite, but he also had to be careful how much weight he carried.
"Them breaking through my sternum I couldn’t carry anything over a certain amount of weight for seven months 'cause if I were to overwork the wires in my sternum, it could be crucket or it could just break on its own," he said. "It was really hard."
Shareef couldn't lift weights for seven months, and couldn't even carry his own backpack while back in class at UCLA. He said a team manager walked with him everywhere in school with his belongings.
"Kind of like a personal assistant," he quipped.
After a medical redshirt freshman season, Shareef, who praised his parents Shaquille and mother Shaunie O'Neal for helping him during his recovery, returned to the court the following year but his production off the bench was minimal. He eventually transferred to LSU, where he played for two seasons before turning pro. He played four games for the Los Angeles Lakers at the 2022 NBA Summer League but was not offered a contract. He's now working his way back with the NBA G League's Ignite team in Nevada, signing a six-figure deal, according to The Athletic.
Shareef 's health update comes just days after LeBron James' 18-year-old son, Bronny James, suffered cardiac arrest during practice at the University of Southern California. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was in ICU but is now in stable condition.
After news of Bronny's USC health scare surfaced, an online troll tweeted, "Bronny started hanging with Shareef and now look. @SSJreef stay yo ass away from him he’s destined for greatness not overseas 😆."
In a since-deleted tweet captured by TMZ Sports, Shareef blasted the remark, replying, "That is very disrespectful of you to say. I’ve been around Bronny for a very long time before this happened ... I’ll pray for you. You need help ... sick that you would even say something like that 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️#dummy."
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