Shaqir O’Neal, son of Shaquille O’Neal, commits to play basketball at Texas Southern

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 24: (L-R) Shaquille O'Neal and Shaqir O’Neal attend the 2019 NBA Awards presented by Kia on TNT at Barker Hangar on June 24, 2019 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Turner Sports) (Joe Scarnici, 2019 Getty Images)

Shaq City is coming to Clutch City.

Shaqir O’Neal, the youngest son of Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, committed on Friday night to play his college basketball at Texas Southern University.

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The announcement took place via Instagram Live on Overtime’s Instagram.

O’Neal, listed as a three-star recruit across several of the major recruiting websites, is a shooting guard out of Creekside Christian Academy in Georgia.

Texas Southern is coming off a season where the men’s basketball team won the SWAC Tournament and also won their play-in game in the NCAA Tournament before succumbing to top-seeded Michigan.

TSU’s head coach, Johnny Jones, was an assistant at Louisiana State University when O’Neal’s father, Shaquille O’Neal, played his college ball at LSU.

Speaking to Overtime about heading to an HBCU school, Shaqir O’Neal said: “I want to change the narrative and culture and do something new.”

“You can expect a whole lot of buckets. I’m trying to get into the (NBA),” he said.

Shaqir’s older brother, Shareef O’Neal, is currently a forward on LSU’s men’s basketball team.


About the Author

Born in Canada but raised in Houston, Howard joined KPRC 2 in 2021 after five years at ESPN. Before that, Howard was a reporter on Houston Rockets and Houston Astros game broadcasts. Among the events that Howard has covered on site: the NBA bubble and the Basketball Hall of Fame inductions for both Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. He's H-town proud!

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