LSU men’s basketball is going through a plethora of changes, and multiple players have just entered the transfer window to leave LSU, including the son of NBA legend and former LSU legend Shaquille O’Neal.
Reportedly, Shareef O’Neal, a 6-10 forward, will be entering the portal Monday evening. This comes as no surprise for anyone following LSU basketball, considering O’Neal wasn’t a huge part of LSU’s game plan this year.
He averaged just three points and two rebounds per game on 50 percent shooting over nine minutes per game in 14 games played.
LSU was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the first round, and in that game, O’Neal had 0 points, 0 assists, and 1 rebound in 5 minutes of play. It is not hard to see why he is testing the portal in search of more minutes or a bigger role on a team.
Shareef’s college journey has been circuitous to say the least. He first committed to Arizona, then decommitted and transferred to UCLA, and eventually found his way to father’s alma mater.
Despite being a four-star recruit and the No. 41 player in the 2018 class, he seems to have a hard time finding his footing at any of these schools as he has only averaged three points in both seasons at UCLA and didn’t really improve his output upon transferring to LSU. Shareef was also battling a serious heart condition that he managed to surpass in 2018 upon having successful “life-saving” surgery.
O’Neal’s departure comes after LSU hired Matt McMahon, who spent his past seven years coaching Murray State, to be their new head coach after dismissing previous coach Will Wade.
McMahon, however, was a Naismith National Coach of the Year semifinalist who coached his former team Murray State to an 18-0 start this season. McMahon also led them to a NCAA Tournament berth as well but didn’t have Shareef listed as an integral part of the LSU system moving forward.
To find out more about where Shaquille O’Neal’s son, Shareef, will play college basketball next season, click here.
