UCLA-Bound Shareef O’Neal Is Ready to Live up to His Family Name šŸ’ŖšŸ½

Hype is a trip.

It can build you up, flood your IG with comments and followers and knight you a member of the chosen elite almost overnight. Hype can also create insurmountable expectations or call you overrated just as easily. Itā€™s something Shareef Oā€™Nealā€”son of, yup, you guessed itā€”has had to deal with his whole life.

ā€œLike, just because of the name I have, the last name I carry, I feel like people are expecting me to do a lot of things,ā€ he says. ā€œIf I donā€™t live up to those expectations, then Iā€™m hyped up and overrated.ā€

OK, howā€™s this for hype: at 18 years old, the younger Oā€™Neal just wrapped up his senior season at Santa Monicaā€™s famed Crossroads School. With it, he collected both a California State Division II title (of which he dropped 29 and 17 in the title game) and the John R. Wooden Award for player of the year, as well as a commitment to don the blue and gold up in Westwood at UCLA next season. He also stands a towering 6-10, can rain down threes and put you on the wrong end of a very shareable dunk GIF. Oh, and heā€™s extremely coachable.

Actually, that ainā€™t hype; thatā€™s just Shareef.

ā€œShareef is amazing as a kidā€”the most humble kid Iā€™ve ever probably run across,ā€ says Crossroads coach Anthony Davis. ā€œI want to probably credit that to his family. His mom, his dad, you know theyā€™re always here, theyā€™re always in his corner. You can just tell they raised a great young man. Heā€™s always looking to get better, heā€™s always asking questions, heā€™s always on him teammates and being that leader.

ā€œUCLA is getting a unicorn, a very special kid. He can do everything.ā€

While his game aims to do everythingā€”Shareef himself describes his style as unpredictableā€”the kid strives to be just as undefinable off the court.

Thereā€™s his diverseā€”and often individually customizedā€”sneaker lineup, his genuine passion for Dragon Ball Z and the little known fact that he loves to put ink to paper and draw when heā€™s not serving up buckets or Fortnite victories. But whatever the creative outlet or on-court result, Shareef says his dad, and the entire Oā€™Neal squad, always let him ride his own wave.

ā€œIā€™m not pressured to play basketball. If I wanted to put down the ball today, hang up all my shoes, he wouldnā€™t be mad at all,ā€ says Shareef about his pops. ā€œAnd if heā€™d ask me what else Iā€™d want to do, Iā€™d tell him and heā€™d be OK with it.

ā€œHe understands that Iā€™m not Shaquille Oā€™Neal. My nameā€™s Shareef Oā€™Neal, and Iā€™m building a whole new name for myself. So whatever I want to do, heā€™s up for it.ā€

What the elder Oā€™Neal and greater basketball public are also up for is all that Shareef has in front of himā€”especially with college and a whole new set of expectations and opportunities rapidly approaching. It would be a handful for any incoming recruit, but for Reef, itā€™s not about pressure.

ā€œProbably everyone whoā€™s heard of me, they donā€™t think Iā€™m going to be as good as my dad,ā€ he says. ā€œSome people are kind of believing in me. My dad, he says I was better than him when he was my age, so that kind of boosted me up a little bit. But pressure, I donā€™t think pressure exists anymore. I used to think it was when I was growing up, and I used to doubt myself a lot when I had a bad game cause of what people would say, but it doesnā€™t exist to me anymore. I know what I can do and Iā€™ve proven myself throughout my high school career. So Iā€™m just looking to keep proving people wrong.ā€

Itā€™s an admirableā€”if not completely appropriateā€”approach for a player whoā€™s probably heard every heckle, hyperbole and criticism in the book: focus on yourself, on what you can control, and let the outside periphery fall to just that. Smart kid. And for someone who just finished attending his senior prom, thatā€™s whatā€™s most excitingā€”that Reef is just beginning to scratch the surface.

ā€œHe hasnā€™t reached his max potential, and when he does,ā€ says Coach Davis, smiling, ā€œitā€™s going to be very scary.ā€

That ainā€™t hype, either. Thatā€™s just Shareef.

Jack Jensen is a writer and photographer living in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter @jensenjack.