nearly five years after Shaq’s son underwent open-heart surgery as a UCLA freshman

Shareef O’Neal, Shaquille’s 23-year-old son, has reached out to Bronny James, LeBron’s 18-year-old son, to talk about his own recovery from open heart surgery.

On Monday, while practicing basketball with his USC squad, Bronny suffered a heart αrrest. After a short stay in intensive care, he was declared stable on Tuesday; however, no update was provided on Wednesday as he continued to undergo testing. Bronny’s cardiac αrrest has yet to be explained.

Shareef, a freshman at USC’s rivαl UCLA, had his own heart difficulties but went on to play professional basketball despite them. The native of Los Angeles is currently in the NBA’s developmental league.

Shareef told Bronny, whom he has known for years, “Any questions you have, you can ask me,” on Good Morning America. “I can probably help you out with those”

Shareef did not have a cardiac αrrest, but he was diagnosed with a cardiac problem by UCLA doctors, and he subsequently missed his first season of college football while recovering from open-heart surgery. He ended up transferring to LSU, his dad’s old mater, and then went undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Shareef has been having cardiac issues, although he is still a professional basketball player. Shareef expressed his anxiety about life after surgery in 2018 by asking, “What is my future looking like?” “At that point, it dawned on me that maybe basketball wasn’t going to work out for me after all,” he said.

Shareef’s father also provided him with some helpful guidance at the time.

In Shareef’s words, “He’s like, ”If you make it out of this, you’ll be the baddest man on the earth. A desire to retrieve the lost item is stoked by this, the speaker says.

Doctors assured Bronny’s parents LeBron and Savannah that he was “on the road to recovery” after his heart αrrest, and the couple isn’t worried about their son’s basketball future at the time.

A family friend told DailyMail.com, “If Bronny isn’t able to ever play basketball again, so be it.” However, “those choices are far in the future.” USC freshman basketball player Bronny, age 18, suffered a heart attαck at the Galen Center on Monday morning before the team left for a 10-day exhibition trip of Greece and Croatia. He was given CPR and taken to the emҽrgency room of a local hospital, where his condition was eventually stabilized enough for him to be moved out of intensive care.

LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time top scorer, and his wife Savannah are optimistic about Bronny’s recovery and are willing to keep him in the hospital for as long as necessary to ensure his safety.

To quote the source: “As parents, this has been a nightmare.” from DailyMail.com. This whole ordeal has been really taxing on me. Their only concern is for Bronny’s happiness. They just can’t accept that this has occurred and is continuing.

Last year, Bronny was one of the top prospects in the country, but he stayed close to home by enrolling at USC in the Los Angeles region. Isaiah Collier, the nation’s best high school senior, has also committed to play for the Trojans.