Lakers Rumors: Shaquille O’Neal’s Son Shareef Agrees to Join Summer League Team

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After following in his father’s footsteps by playing at LSU, Shareef O’Neal will reportedly start his NBA career by doing the same.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, O’Neal will play for the Los Angeles Lakers during NBA Summer League even though he wasn’t selected during the 2022 NBA draft on Thursday.

The son of Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, his status for the draft wasn’t initially clear. His name was inadvertently included on a list of players who withdrew from the event, but Charania reported on June 6 he was still eligible to be selected.

O’Neal originally began his college career at UCLA. He was a 4-star recruit coming out of Crossroads School in 2018, per 247Sports’ composite rankings.

He spent two seasons with the Bruins from 2018-20. He missed his freshman season due to a heart issue that was discovered during a routine checkup by UCLA medical staff.

O’Neal appeared in 13 games during the 2019-20 season, averaging 2.2 points and 2.9 rebounds. He announced in Feb. 2020 he was transferring to LSU.

A foot injury limited the Los Angeles native to 24 games over two seasons with the Tigers, and he averaged 2.9 points and 2.1 rebounds per game off the bench.

Despite being older than many of the prospects in this year’s draft, O’Neal’s experience level is on par with them because of how many games he missed in college due to injuries. He could still have more upside than a typical 22-year-old rookie that the Lakers will hope to coach out of him.