Shaquille O’Neal recently sat down with his son, Shareef O’Neal, to have a heart-to-heart conversation with him about the sacrifice it takes to build a successful NBA career.
This conversation was recorded for his Netflix TV series, Power Moves, which came out in June 2026. But his candid discussion with his son about his struggling NBA career has now gone viral on social media nearly two months later.
“Alright, but you know we don’t need basketball. I’ve been around this game since ’89, buddy; I’ve seen it all. You gotta understand that in that life, you know you have to give everything up, right?”
“How many birthday parties did I miss? How many school plays did I miss? How many times did you wake up and not see me there?” O’Neal said as his son responded ‘A lot’ to every question he asked.
“Are you ready to live that life? Cause if you want to be great, my man, you gotta sacrifice everything. I’ve lost a family trying to be great. It’s been great in the end because I can help y’all become great, but you’ve got to make sure this is really what you want.”
“Because if you’re not going to put your 1000% into it, then I would say, let’s just take Reebok over and get us back to number one,” O’Neal candidly concluded.
Shareef O’Neal went undrafted in 2022 when he ended up joining the NBA G League Ignite. Shaquille O’Neal was simply trying to remind his son of what it took to be great like him.
“My dad missed birthdays, games, Christmas, and I respect it now. I know when I was a kid I always used to ask, ‘Is Dad gonna be here?’ but we always kind of knew that, okay, he’s playing basketball, he’s busy.”
“I know every NBA player who has a family misses a lot of things that they wish they could go to,” Shareef O’Neal said.
Shaquille O’Neal is a father of six children, four of whom were with his ex-wife, Shaunie Henderson (formerly Shaunie O’Neal before her remarriage). O’Neal confirmed his divorce in November 2009, two years before he retired from the league.
The NBA legend played 19 seasons for six different teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat. He averaged 23.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.3 blocks while shooting 58.2% from the floor in 1,207 regular-season games.
O’Neal was selected to play in 15 All-Star games. He won the Rookie of the Year award, one MVP award, three Finals MVP awards, and four NBA championships. He was also inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2016.
But to get all of this, O’Neal has probably lost count of the other important events in his life that he missed due to his commitment to basketball.
Shareef O’Neal is anticipating that he will make it to the training camp for the Sacramento Kings this summer. This provides Shaquille O’Neal’s son with a valuable lesson about the impact of sacrifice and how essential it is to have a great NBA career.
