UCLA Transfer Shareef O'Neal Officially Signs With LSU, Adding to an Impressive Class for Will Wade

O'Neal will look to carve his own path separate from his father starting in 2020

LSU officially picked up its second signing of the day when UCLA transfer and son of Tiger legend Shaquille O'Neal, Shareef, signed his letter of intent with the purple and gold.

O'Neal joins the No. 6 recruiting class in the country according to 247Sports, a class that features five-star guard Cam Thomas, four-star forward Mwani Wilkinson, three-star guard Jalen Cook, three-star big man Bradley Ezewiro and Georgetown transfer Josh Leblanc.

LSU is still waiting on the papers for four-star guard Eric Gaines, who committed to the Tigers in late February. The Tigers are also awaiting word on whether sophomores Javonte Smart, Darius Days and Emmitt Williams will declare for the 2020 draft.

All three tested the NBA waters as freshmen so if they were to declare this go around, they wouldn't be allowed to return to school. The same can't be said for freshman forward Trendon Watford, who announced on Monday he would declare for the 2020 draft.

Watford's plans are to retain his NCAA eligibility so he has the possibility of returning if he isn't pleased with his draft stock.

"The name O'Neal is a part of LSU Basketball history and we look forward to Shareef starting his own path at LSU," Coach Will Wade said in a statement. "Shareef has the ability to impact a game with his tremendous offensive rebound acumen and his ability to stretch the defense with his shot."

O'Neal missed what would've been his entire freshman season after undergoing open heart surgery in 2018 before finally suiting up for UCLA in 2019. He appeared in just 13 games for the Bruins last season, averaging 2.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in a little over 10 minutes per game. 

He averaged 27.6 points and 17.3 rebounds per game during his senior season at Crossroads High School in Santa Monica, where he was ranked as the No. 41 prospect by 247Sports.

“LSU was one of the first schools that recruited me,” O’Neal told Bleacher Report last week. “I feel like when I went there to visit it was like home. They didn’t really talk about my dad one time. That’s kind of what stood out to me. Even though there’s a statue outside the gym [of Shaq], they didn't say ‘We want you to be your dad.’ The LSU family is just—they were just really supportive.”