Shaquille O’Neal is reflecting on the sacrifices he made to reach the pinnacle of professional basketball.
During a Friday appearance on "TODAY," O’Neal, widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA players in history, shared his mantra for his seven children: “We don’t need another basketball player. At all.”
“So if you want to play basketball, cool, but please go to law school. Please go to medical school. Please be an engineer. Please be an AI inventor. Just do something else,” O’Neal, 53, said. “So I give them freedom to be who they are. I never press them.”
The athlete also touched on his parenting philosophy, making it clear that he’s not raising entitled kids, that they are expected to work hard.
“In order to touch daddy’s cheese, you got to show me two or three degrees,” he joked, to emphasize the value he places on education.
O’Neal’s seven kids include four with his ex-wife Shaunie: Shareef, 25; Shaqir, 21; Amirah, 23; and Me’arah, 19.
“I never say, ‘Do this or do that,’” O’Neal said on "TODAY." “You know, they just have to live their lives. I hate using this word, but I have seven perfect children. I haven’t had a problem with any of my children ever. God bless."
O’Neal is featured in the Netflix docuseries “Power Moves With Shaquille O’Neal,” which follows his journey as he takes on the role of President of Reebok Basketball. In one episode, as his son Shareef considers a career in the NBA, O’Neal cautions him about the moments he missed in his own life because of the sport, a reminder of the trade-offs that come with greatness.
“You know you’re going to have to give everything up, right?” O’Neal tells Shareef. “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?”
To each question, Shareef answers, “A lot.”
Shareef acknowledged the impact of his father’s absence.
“My dad missed birthdays, games, Christmas. I respected that, but I know when I was a kid, we always used to ask, ‘Is Dad gonna be there?’” he recalled in the Netflix series. “We kind of knew that he’s playing basketball, he’s busy. I know that every big player that has a family misses a lot of things that they wish they could go to.”
