There are only a handful of people in the world who could even come close to understanding what it is like to be the son of LeBron James, and Shareef O’Neal is one of them. With LeBron Jr. gaining so much popularity lately, O’Neal tried to put things in perspective.
O’Neal, the 18-year-old son of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, took to Instagram on Thursday to shed some light on how much he can relate to LeBron Jr., aka Bronny.
“Bronny … One kid I can relate to a lot … we both kind of have it the same way, being the son of an NBA legend isn’t easy and to get all of this at a young age is a real challenge to adjust to,” O’Neal wrote. “Bronny has it a little bit worse than I do, but the difference between him and I, he can back his up at such a young age .. when I would get hate from people in the crowd at 14/15 years old .. I would choke up and wouldn’t play my game and I’m still getting the hang of it .. it’s all a journey … this kid has it all! I’m looking forward to seeing him kill it for the rest of his career! Love.”
Bronny is 14 and has already made an unofficial visit to Duke with some of his AAU teammates. One of his AAU games was cancelled earlier this week due to security concerns over the number of people who were packed into the gym, so that should give you a sense of the unprecedented amount of buzz surrounding him.
O’Neal can certainly relate on many levels, as we saw what happened after he decommitted from Arizona earlier this year. Both Bronny and Shareef obviously have opportunities in life most kids couldn’t dream of having, but their situations have plenty of challenges, too.
