Former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal and reality TV star Shaunie O'Neal first got together at the start of the '00s and were married for nine years before they divorced in 2011. While they're no longer a couple, they still share five children. The two have three sons—Myles, 24, Shareef, 21, and Shaqir, 18—and two daughters—Amirah, 19, and Me'arah, 15. Shaquille O'Neal's third daughter, Taahirah, 24, is from his relationship with ex Arnetta Yardbourgh.
Unsurprisingly, a few of Shaq's kids are following in his footsteps by succeeding on the court. That includes his second eldest daughter, Amirah, who's a basketball star at her father's alma mater, Louisiana State University. To find out more about the college player and her rising career, read on.
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Amirah is a forward on LSU's women's team.
Ballislife/YouTubeAmirah just finished her freshman year at LSU, where she plays forward. According to her official university profile, she scored an average of 17.2 points a game during her junior year of high school at the Crossroads School for the Arts & Sciences. The teen notes in her profile that LSU was one of her top choices partly because her dad played there from 1989 to 1992.
She's majoring in Agricultural Business and plans to start her own business after graduating. In her free time, Amirah also enjoys cooking, drawing, and painting.
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Shaunie admires her daughter's dedication to the sport.
Cassy Athena/Getty ImagesDuring a February 2020 interview with Ballislife, Shaunie (right) marveled at Amirah's (second from the left) commitment, saying that her daughter "plays hard" from the beginning to the end of every game. "She's not going to give up," Shaunie explained. " She doesn't care what the score is. You're going to get full 100%."
Amirah's little sister, Me'arah (left) is a rising sophomore at Crossroads School, where she plays basketball. While speaking to BallIsLife, Shaunie was asked if she thought her daughters could help raise the profile of women's basketball. She said that she hopes they can, and that she intends to keep supporting female players by promoting their achievements and getting new fans involved.
"I'm gonna try my best to rally people, put it on social media, get people out," Shaunie said. "Honestly, growing up even, you didn't go to girls' games. Nobody even asked, really. So, we gotta change that."
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Shaq wants his kids to put their education first.
lev radin/ShutterstockLast October, Shaq told Us Weekly that he tried to instill in his kids that school should be their top priority so that they can be "fully educated" and "fully independent" adults.
"I want them to have most of those goals, and once they get 18 on and they become little mini-adults, I’m not going to be the dad that says, 'Do this, do that.' [I’ll] guide them in the right path," the former player said. "In the perfect world, I’d like them to have a bachelor's and master's and [be] going into their own field."
Amirah's brother also plays for LSU.
Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Harold and Carole Pump FoundationShareef, Amirah's brother, is the second oldest of all the O'Neal kids and was the first to play college basketball. He's also a forward at LSU, just on the men's team. His official bio notes that he only played 10 games during the 2020-2021 season because of a fracture in his foot. Shareef shares details about his basketball career—as well as photos of his family—on his Instagram.
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