PHOENIX โ Having appeared on reality TV shows since he was seven, Shaqir OโNeal recently celebrated his 16th birthday fittingly: Along with 400 guests at โFresh Prince of Bel-Airโ-style party inside a rented Los Angeles mansion, with a vintage cab and โbutlerโ on hand in the style of the popular 1990s sitcom.
OโNeal was given a $124,000 Mercedes G Wagon. Rapper Blueface performed and, not surprisingly, VH1 aired the lavish affair on its โBasketball Wivesโ show.
โWe are pulling out all the stops for Shaqirโs big day,โ Shaunie OโNeal told the cameras. She is the showโs executive producer and ex-wife of NBA legend Shaquille OโNeal.
Shaqir OโNealโs longtime friend and roommate this week at the NCAAโs West Region basketball camp in Phoenix, Zaire Wade, has also been doused in a lifetime of glamour.
His father, Dwyane, led the Miami Heat to three NBA championships โ and he and Shaquille OโNeal won one together in 2006.
โThatโs my guy, Shaqir,โ Zaire Wade said. โAnother NBA son, so I may have the same mindset, you know, to make a name for ourselves.โ
The goals of the NCAAโs new regional camps this week include giving players a chance to make a name for themselves and pick up some knowledge about life ahead as a college and possibly pro player.
Thanks to their famous fathers, OโNeal and Wade already have those things. But they are trying to make a different name for themselves, as legitimate college prospects in their own right.
A 6-foot-2-inch point guard in the Class of 2020, Wade said he already has scholarship offers from Nebraska, Rhode Island, DePaul and Toledo. He might pick up more while playing next season for powerhouse Sierra Canyon High School in California, where he is transferring to after moving from Florida.
OโNeal said he doesnโt have any scholarship offers yet but heโs only a rising junior at Santa Monica (California) Crossroads High School. The younger OโNeal is a smaller wing whose 6-4, 175-pound frame is noticeably smaller than that of his famous father and even of his older brother, Shareef, a combo forward who will play for UCLA as a redshirt freshman next season.
โIโd say Iโm a really good shooter and I have handles, like a sneaky handle,โ Shaqir OโNeal said. โI can get to the basket easy and Iโm a good finisher.โ
Overtime posted a video to Twitter last month in which Shaqir OโNeal broke free for a dunk in a pickup game, while his brother attempted unsuccessfully to stop him from behind.
But many of their earlier battles on the court werenโt so easy.
โWe always played against each other,โ Shaqir OโNeal said. โAt my age he was a little bit taller but it was competitive. We used to cry.โ
Shaqir OโNeal said his uncle would play with Shareef and Shaquille sometimes in pickup games, but that he was too young to play in those. Besides, Shaqir OโNeal said, he didnโt really become serious abut basketball until age 14.
Zaire Wade has had more opportunity to play one-on-one with his dad. He said heโs picked up some confidence as the gap between their skills narrows. The two have another matchup scheduled soon.
โLast time, he got me,โ Zaire Wade said. โBut I think I got him this time. So weโll see.โ
But whenever the two sons play in front of fans, no matter who it is against, itโs also difficult for another reason: The eyes that are following them, in part because of their last names.
โItโs a lot of pressure,โ Shaqir OโNeal said.
Zaire Wade has seen crowds even in the mostly closed-off environment of the NCAA camp at Grand Canyon University this week. Most of the camp games are attended by only a handful of coaches or relatives. Wade, meanwhile, has played in front of dozens of coaches, family and media every time.
But by now, heโs used to it.
โWhen I was growing up, I felt like it was a lot of pressure,โ he said. โEverybody was telling me I had to be as good as he was. But as I got older, it started to fade away. I started to play my game. It really just made me perform better. Everybody expects me to do something, so I guess I gotta do it.โ
โI wouldnโt call it pressure. I call it life. I was born into this life, so it is what it is.โ