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Shareef O’Neal Out for the Season

Shareef O'Neal Out For Season

College Basketball

Shareef O’Neal Out for the Season

Son of basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, Shareef, is going to miss the 2018-’19 college basketball season with a heart condition. After he felt ‘funny’ following workouts this offseason, the California-Los Angeles (UCLA) doctors gave O’Neal a heart monitor to wear. On the monitor is a button for Shareef to push whenever he felt uncomfortable. TMZ reports O’Neal pushed the button after a summer practice, revealing a heart ailment.

As a result, O’Neal chose to undergo surgery in the near future. In the meantime, Shareef plans to continue life as a normal UCLA student-athlete. O’Neal will attend classes as a normal student while using a medical redshirt status (officially known as a ‘medical hardship waiver’) for the 2018-’19 season. A medical hardship waiver is applied for by the school, as the NCAA can grant or deny the request.

Medical Hardship Waiver

Here are the requirements for an athlete to land a medical hardship waiver claim:

  • It must be a season-ending injury
  • The injury must occur during the senior year of high school or during one of the four college years.
  • The injury must occur prior to the second half of the regular season.
  • The student-athlete must not have competed in 30% or more of the team’s overall contests.

Shareef originally saw Arizona as his future collegiate team, switching to UCLA after the Sean Miller-Deandre Ayton story surfaced. He was a four-star recruit at both Windward and Crossroads High located in California.

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Photo Credit: David Pradel via Twitter

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