Despite having an iconic NBA player to call “dad,” Shaquille O’Neal’s son, Shareef, shared that his favorite NBA player is not his father.
“LeBron [James] number one, Kobe [Bryant], and then my dad is number three,” Shareef told “Us Weekly” at the 2025 ESPYS. “He knows that. LeBron, Kobe, my dad.”
While this may be new news to fans, Shareef claims that his father is aware of who his favorites are and doesn’t care that he has favorite players other than him.
“He doesn’t mind,” Shareef said. “There would be times when he’d play against Kobe or LeBron, and he’d wait after so we could meet them. I would go to his games in a LeBron jersey. So, it’s funny.”
Shaq played with both of his son’s favorite NBA players. He was teammates with the late Kobe Bryant on the Lakers for eight seasons. Most notably, the teammates won three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002 together. Shaq left the Lakers in 2004 after joining the team in 1996.
As for LeBron James, Shaq was teammates with him during his short stint on the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he was on the team for the 2009-10 season. Unlike his success with Kobe, they made it to the playoffs but did not make it to the Finals.
Shaq played in the NBA for 19 seasons with the Lakers, Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics after he was drafted by the Orlando Magic in 1992.
Shaq reveals why he doesn’t want his kids playing in the NBA
Alongside Shareef, Shaq is the father of six other children: Taahirah, 28, whom he shares with former girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh, and Myles, 28, Amirah, 23, Shaqir, 22 and Me’arah, whom he shares with his ex-wife Shaunie Henderson.
“We don’t need another basketball player. At all,” Shaq revealed that he told his children per the “Today” show back in May.
“So if you want to play basketball, cool, but please go to law school,” he continued. “Please go to medical school. Please be an engineer. Please be an AI inventor. Just do something else.”
While he is not knocking out any hoop dreams, and gives them the “freedom” to pursue whatever they’d like, he shared that he wants all of his children to prioritize a higher education.
“In order to touch daddy’s cheese,” he joked, “you got to show me two or three degrees.”
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