{"id":1998,"date":"2026-01-12T16:50:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/?p=1998"},"modified":"2026-01-12T16:50:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T16:50:34","slug":"prayers-up-for-shaq-and-shaunies-son-as-he-announces-life-threatening-heart-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/?p=1998","title":{"rendered":"Prayers up for Shaq and Shaunie\u2019s son as he announces life threatening heart surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heartbreaking news has struck the O\u2019Neal family recently and our thoughts and prayers are definitely with them at this time.<\/p>\n

Shareef O’Neal Says His Father Shaq Doesn’t Want Him to Enter NBA Draft
\nNBA legend, Shaquille O\u2019Neal and his ex-wife\/Basketball Wives creator, Shaunie o\u2019Neal, are deeply concerned about their 18 year old son, Shareef right about now. In case y\u2019all hadn\u2019t heard, Shareef was one of the most highly sought after high school basketball players during his senior season. There was major hype surrounding his upcoming college b-ball career with UCLA this year.\"Shareef<\/p>\n

Shareef O’Neal, Shaq’s son, to play basketball at UCLA \u2013 The Denver Post
\nUnfortunately, the 18-year-old has just bravely announced that UCLA\u2019s medical staff has caught a serious heart aliment and he must now undergo major heart surgery.<\/p>\n

Peter Guber, Co-Executive Chairman of the Golden State Warriors and Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment, speaks to former Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O\u2019Neal and his son Shareef O\u2019Neal as they attend a basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers where Lakers legend Kobe Bryant\u2019s jersey was retired at Staples Center on December 18, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.\"How<\/p>\n

How good is Shaqir O’Neal? Meet Shaq’s son playing for Texas Southern in March Madness 2023 | Sporting News Canada<\/p>\n

He credits the staff with \u2018saving his life\u2019 and spoke out during a new interview with TMZ to announce his plans going forward. He will have to sit out his entire freshman season and will be just a \u201cnormal student\u201d during that time:.<\/p>\n

Shareef O\u2019Neal, \u201cSo, the other day during a routine check-up\u2026we found a medical issue dealing with my heart. \u2026 Thank God the UCLA medical staff found it early, but causing this, I will not be playing this season and I will be a medical red shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued:\"Son<\/p>\n

Son of Shaq: Shareef O’Neal creates own path | Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time off, I\u2019ll be off for a while, I\u2019ll be focusing on academics, my health of course, and I\u2019ll just be observing [the team] to be the best player I [can] be next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Shareef says he understands that his heart surgery will require him to \u201cbe out for a couple of months,\u201d he wants people to know this will not hinder his career:<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are asking if this is career ending. Absolutely not, it\u2019s just a little bump in the road and I\u2019ll be back in no time. During my rehab, I\u2019ll be attending my classes and being a normal student.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took a minute to thank his supporters and to give an honest view of how down this news has him at this time, but also how optimistic he is about his future:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank UCLA, my family and my teammates and everyone who supports me in this decision. And I just want to say to all the kids [that] the road to success is not always gonna be a straight path. You know, you gotta go through some bumps and bruises.<\/p>\n

Shareef O’Neal and Father Shaquille ‘Kind of Bumped Heads’ Over Choosing NBA Pre-Draft Workout Over Going Back to School<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not always gonna be easy. I\u2019m a little down, feels like I was on my peak in basketball and going into my freshman year, coming out of a state championship at my high school. Felt like I was at the top of my game, just trying to get better, then this happened. So, I\u2019m just doing my best to focus on my health right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

This has to be tough on Shareef and his family, but we definitely commend that young brother for being able to hold his head high in the midst of this hardship. Looking forward to watching him soar to new heights after he bounces back from his heart surgery and sending positive energy his way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heartbreaking news has struck the O\u2019Neal family recently and our thoughts and prayers are definitely with them at this time. Shareef O’Neal Says His Father<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000,"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998\/revisions\/2000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebspaces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}