Was it all a coincidence? Athletic Director of Sacramento State, Mark Orr, explained that the man behind convincing Shaquille O’Neal to join their basketball program was Mike Bibby. He is the newly appointed head coach of the team. But for how long did they have the plan? Was it an easy one? Moreover, Sacramento State is not just any place. It is where O’Neal’s lesser-known son will also kick off his game in the upcoming season. The Lakers legend usually avoids his kids’ games, as they tend to get nervous in his presence. So how did Bibby convince the Big Aristotle?
The past between O’Neal and Bibby is not unfamiliar to fans. The two were involved in a fierce battle back in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. As we all know, the Lakers won over the Kings in Game 7. The two former rivals now have a great relationship. The head coach recently sat for an interview with 247sports and shared some unknown details about how this entire team-up came to happen.
Surprisingly, the coach revealed that the program didn’t have any plans to bring O’Neal to the roster. “There was no conversation in that we had really no intentions of that. We just sat there and … got a guy who worked out his son… we were talking to him and he’s like ‘hey what do you think about the kid coming to play school there.’ I said that’d be great, let’s get him,” he said. And while it does sound a bit tough, it wasn’t anything such, as Bibby recounted. After a year with Florida A&M, Shaqir entered his name in the transfer portal to move to Sacramento State.
“I didn’t really think about Shaq coming in doing anything up until a couple of weeks ago when I reached out to him and was I mean talked to him about his son and how he wanted me to coach him and approach the whole situation and I just asked him like ‘hey would you want to put your hands on this program and kind of help us?’ Without hesitation he said yeah let me get the logistics, let’s see what we got to do,” Bibby shared.
Earlier, it was announced that 4x NBA champ would be taking on a voluntary role for the team and helping to manage them. O’Neal won’t be raking in much to add to his $500 million net worth.
However, it seems that the Big Aristotle is excited for his career to take a new turn. It is also expected that Shaq’s GM role could accelerate Sac State’s other programs and initiatives and one such is push for FBS status. As of now, the school has submitted a waiver to the NCAA, which is currently under review.
June 24, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; NBA former player Shaquille O’Neal with sons Sharif O’Neal and Shaqir O’Neal arrive on the red carpet for the 2019 NBA Awards show at Barker Hanger. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Shaquille O’Neal isn’t the one. Active NBA players like Stephen Curry and Trae Young have also been recently appointed as GM and assistant GM respectively for their alma maters. Amidst the new additions, Shaqir has extended love for the other new recruits this year.
Shaqir O’Neal and Shareef O’Neal Welcomed New Members
Shaq and Bibby’s arrival clearly hints that Sacramento State is up for a big change. Not just Shaqir, the program has also recruited several more talents to the roster. And the O’Neal brothers are over the moon. One such instance is Shaqir will be reuniting with his former rival Mikey Williams.
The two faced each other back in middle school. At UCF, Williams played in 18 games with five starts, averaging 5.1 points per game while logging 14 minutes per contest. Williams, in an interview, even added that he had hung out with Bronny James and Shaqir. And just after his recruitment, Shaqir also reached out to him. “Me and Shaqir got a cool relationship just going back previously but he hit me last night for my number so we tapped back in,” he said on Overtime. Both Shaqir and Shareef posted warm reactions on social media to welcome him.
Williams isn’t the only addition to the roster. Brandon Gardner will also join the team to play alongside Shaqir and Williams. It wouldn’t be wrong to assume that the team is all set to bring in more action. The program has never played in the NCAA Tournament. Will these new additions and developments push the team toward perhaps a bigger win?
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