Why Shaquille O’Neal Doesn’t Want His 7 Kids to Play Basketball

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal explained why he hopes his seven children—including Taahirah, 28, Myles, 28, Shareef, 25, Amirah, 23, Shaqir, 22, and Me’arah, 19—will explore paths other than basketball.

Shaquille O’Neal is hoping his kids will take a shot at something different.

The basketball legend, who is dad to Taahirah, 28—whom he shares with former girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh—and Myles, 28, Shareef, 25, Amirah, 23, Shaqir, 22, and Me’arah, 19, whom he shares with ex-wife Shaunie Henderson, recently revealed that he has always told his children, “We don’t need another basketball player. At all.”

“So if you want to play basketball, cool, but please go to law school,” he said on the May 23 episode of Today. “Please go to medical school. Please be an engineer. Please be an AI inventor. Just do something else.”

Shaquille added, “So I give them freedom to be who they are. I never press them.”

The 53-year-old explained that his adult children will only benefit from his success if they choose to work hard themselves.

“In order to touch daddy’s cheese,” he joked, “you got to show me two or three degrees.”

Shaq—who played for the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics during his 19-year career in the NBA—noted that thankfully, his children have never disappointed him.

“I never say, ‘Do this or do that.’ You know, they just have to live their lives,” he explained. “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.“

In fact, Shaq recently warned his son Shareef about pursuing a career in the NBA, as seen in his upcoming Netflix docuseries, Power Moves With Shaquille O’Neal.

“You know you’re going to have to give everything up, right?” he told Shareef, per Today. “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?”

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Shareef answered, “A lot,” and acknowledged his dad’s point.

“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?’” Shareef 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.”

But despite his busy schedule, Shaquille knows how he is “truly blessed” to have such great kids.

“I try to spoil them, but not really,” he told E! News in 2022. “I’ve been blessed. I have wonderful children. They listen, they have wonderful mothers, so whatever they need, I take care of it.”

For more athletes with kids who have taken on their talents, read on…

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Michael Jordan, Jeffrey Jordan and Marcus Jordan

Considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time, it didn’t come as a surprise that Michael Jordan’s sons, Jeffrey Jordan and Marcus Jordan, sought to follow in his footsteps. After shooting hoops in high school, Jeffrey went on to play in college at both the University of Illinois and University of Central Florida, eager to step out of his dad’s shadow.

“I guess I’m not the top one or two or three or four players in my state,” Jeffrey told The Washington Post in 2005, “but I want to show that I can play here and that I’m not just a name.”

Marcus also played basketball during his own studies at UCF, crediting his dad for helping him chart his own path.

“He was giving me tips and pointers whenever I had questions and stuff like that,” he told The Gainesville Sun in 2011, “but really he was just telling me to be focused and work hard every day, because eventually it will pay off.”

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LeBron James and Bronny James

Bronny James (born LeBron James Jr. on born Oct. 6, 2004) played high school basketball for Chatsworth Sierra Canyon in the San Fernando Valley before graduating to the University of Southern California.

While the NBA schedule has often kept LeBron from being able to attend a full slate of his son’s games, he’s went to great lengths to watch Bronny in action. In fact, he once chartered a plane on an off-day to catch Sierra Canyon play against his own alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio.

“To go watch my son play…and also versus my alma mater,” LeBron told reporters, “it’s a pretty surreal, come-full-circle, unbelievable thing.”

In June 2024, Bronny was drafted to the Los Angeles Lakers, making him and LeBron the first father-son duo to play in the NBA at the same time.

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Dwyane Wade and Zaire Wade

Also helping to make up the Sierra Canyon all-star squad? Zaire Wade, the eldest son of retired Miami Heat star (and former LeBron James teammate) Dwyane Wade.

“You’ve got to embrace it,” Zaire, who transferred there in December 2019 from Florida, told Yahoo! Sports about the unusual amount of attention being paid to his team. “There are cameras on us wherever we go. There has been a lot of attention on me my whole life, but this is crazy. This is another level.”

However, Zaire—unhappy with the lack of playing time he ended up getting—announced on Instagram In April 2020 that he’d be transferring to Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, Fla.

Zaire was the 10th pick in the 2021 NBA G League draft, joining the Salt Lake City Stars. He went on to play for Cape Town Tigers of the Basketball Africa Leagu before signing with the of the ASEAN Basketball League in April 2024.