Shaquille O’Neal’s Son Shareef Jokes His Dad Isn’t His Favorite NBA Player

Shareef O’Neal comes from a legendary basketball lineage, but his favorite NBA player of all-time doesn’t share his last name.

Shareef, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, listed his preferred lineup of hardware heroes in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly. 

“LeBron [James] number one, Kobe [Bryant], and then my dad is number three,” Shareef, 25, told Us at the 2025 ESPYS at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 16. “He knows that. LeBron, Kobe, my dad.”

Shareef joked that his dad isn’t fazed by his son’s allegiances, and even helped facilitate face-to-face meetings with his basketball icons over the years. 

“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 and in a LeBron jersey. So, it’s funny.”

Shaquille, 53, famously played with the late Bryant for eight seasons on the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996 to 2004, winning three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002. 

James, 40, and Shaquille were also teammates for one season on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2009-2010 season.

Shareef — who played college basketball at UCLA and LSU, his dad’s alma mater — underwent open heart surgery in 2018, which helped strengthen the bond he has with his father. 

“That’s the first time I actually heard my dad say he was scared,” Shareef told Us. “I was like, ‘Wow.’ I’d never heard him say he was scared before. That kind of changed my mind and my feeling and everything. It was very touching. Me and him, we’ve been as close as we’ve ever been since that surgery.”

These days, Shareef described his dad — who retired from the NBA in 2011 — as a “15-year-old on the inside.”

“He still wants to be a kid,” Shareef said. “He still watches cartoons, all that stuff. I feel like people don’t know what he does behind the videos they see. He’s a freshman in high school. He’s still a prankster. He is a really cool dude. People love him for a reason.”

In addition to their close personal relationship, Shareef and Shaquille have gone into business together. Last month, Shaquille was named the new president of Reebok Basketball and he enlisted his son’s assistance to help revitalize the legendary brand. 

“I see myself taking this brand over one day,” Shareef said of the opportunity. “My dad, this is the opportunity he set up for us. He wants us to take over his companies and his brands and I was really the first one to kind of step into the field with Reebok. I see myself in the future taking this over, bringing it back to number one”

Shareef added, “I got to be confident. I got to speak stuff into existence. I got to take all these other brands out. I got to bring it back.”