Shaquille O'Neal's Son Shaqir Commits to Texas Southern

Shaqir O'Neal, the 18-year-old son of Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, has committed to play college basketball at Texas Southern. 

He announced his decision in an Instagram post Friday. 

"You can expect a lot of buckets," O'Neal said in an interview with Overtime (h/t ESPN's Myron Medcalf). "I'm trying to get to the league."

O'Neal also said he picked Texas Southern because he wants to help "change the narrative" about high-profile athletes pursuing a future at historically Black colleges and universities. 

Shaqir's older brother Shareef is currently enrolled at LSU after spending two seasons at UCLA. He averaged 2.8 points and 4.4 rebounds in 10 games during the 2020-21 campaign. 

A 6'5" shooting guard, O'Neal is graduating from Union Grove High School this spring. He's rated as a 3-star prospect and No. 55 player at his position in the 2021 recruiting class, per 247Sports composite rankings.

The Tigers currently compete in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Head coach Johnny Jones has gone 57-39 in his first three seasons with the program. 

Texas Southern made the NCAA men's basketball tournament as a No. 16 seed this season after winning the SWAC tournament. It defeated Mount St. Mary's in the First Four game before losing to No. 1 seed Michigan.