There was a small murmur as the hooded figure entered the King Drew gym alone on Saturday. He walked quietly from the door to the locker room. Spectators in the stands began deliberating.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that was\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he playing today?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWait, which son is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
When he emerged for warmups, the suspicions were answered. Shaqir O\u2019Neal, the youngest son of NBA legend Shaquille, was taking the court for Dawg Pound, coached by his uncle, in Week 7 of the Drew League. His addition helped a 81\u201376 victory over the Reapers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe eyes come with the territory, with my name,\u201d O\u2019Neal said. \u201cI try not to let myself get carried away. I just want to hoop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaqir is the most unassuming hooper in the O\u2019Neal family. His older brother, Shareef, was a four-star recruit at Crossroads High in Los Angeles before a heart condition altered his path. After a winding college career that ended at LSU, he\u2019s bounced around the G League.<\/p>\n
Shaqir\u2019s journey has been even quieter. A three-star prospect out of Union Grove High in Georgia, he averaged just 1.5 points over two seasons at Texas Southern, then bumped it to 6.7 after transferring to Florida A&M. This spring, he committed to Sacramento State for his final year.<\/p>\n
He was the quiet beginning of a renaissance in California\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
Weeks later, the school named his father general manager of the basketball program. \u201cShaq State\u201d was born. The Hornets then promptly announced their move up to the Big West Conference in 2025, with reported hopes of getting to the Pac-12 soon.<\/p>\n
Then came Mikey Williams \u2014 an internet sensation with millions of followers in high school, whose college career hasn\u2019t matched the hype, followed by a wave of high-major transfers.<\/p>\n
The football program followed suit, hiring respected UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion as its new head coach. It also landed Jaden Rashada, a former top-10 quarterback recruit whose high-profile journey included NIL chaos, a stop at Arizona State, and a shoulder injury that stalled his freshman year. He transferred to Georgia but never saw the field.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, Sacramento State had a movement. CBS Sports reported the school had raised $50 million in NIL funding.<\/p>\n
And Shaqir \u2014 quietly, improbably \u2014 was the first piece of its new, ambitious era.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have everybody brought in for no reason,\u201d he said. \u201cWe brought everyone in to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
In all of men\u2019s college basketball, Sacramento State now has the two players with the largest Instagram followings. Shaqir (781k) and Williams (3.2M) have had eyes on them for years. That notoriety comes with expectations neither has fully met.<\/p>\n
Williams has had over a million followers since his freshman year of high school. His college career never quite took off \u2014 first derailed by legal trouble at Memphis, then by injuries at UCF.<\/p>\n
Now both he and O\u2019Neal have a shot at redemption at one of the country\u2019s fastest-growing programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re telling each other, \u2018we got to lock in and take this serious,\u2019\u201d O\u2019Neal said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had the college career we wanted, so this is the chance to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his father was one of the game\u2019s most boisterous stars, Shaqir\u2019s performance mirrored his entrance. He quietly came off the bench, played tough defense, moved the ball, and scored six points in the win.<\/p>\n
There was no announcement, no grand reveal \u2014 just a quiet return to the floor.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t need to beckon the spotlight.<\/p>\n
His name does that for him.<\/p>\n
Shaqir isn\u2019t the face of a title contender or the loudest voice in the room. But in Sacramento, he represents something foundational: a new kind of belief.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t need to take over the game \u2014 he just needed to prove something to himself. A name doesn\u2019t guarantee success, but he\u2019s not asking it to.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s just here to get better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to be as productive as I can,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m just here to work on the things I need to get better at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notes from the Drew League and Women\u2019s Drew League<\/p>\n
Former Mayfair High, five-star recruit in 2020, Josh Christopher, was in attendance for O\u2019Neal\u2019s game. Christopher is now on a two-way contract with the Miami Heat, splitting time between the NBA and the Heat\u2019s G-League affiliate, Sioux Falls Skyforce.
\nProblems finished the regular season 6-1 and in first place in the Horace Wormley division. Arizona Commit out of Roosevelt High Brayden Burries 29 points and 10 rebounds led the way as they beat reigning champs Cheaters, 92-86.
\nWhat Now got its first win of the season, beating Black Pearl Elite 90-77.
\nGCU guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas of Unidsputed Legends hit six threes to beat the defending Womens Drew League champs Gage 71-58. She finished the NCAA season shooting 46.4% from three-point range\u2014second best in the nation\u2014while leading the country in threes per game (3.88), ranking second in makes (124) and third in attempts (267).<\/p>\n
Scores from the weekend<\/p>\n
Can\u2019t Buy Respect 78, All In Elite 72<\/p>\n
Hometown Favorites 79, Jedi 77<\/p>\n
Problems 92, Cheaters 86<\/p>\n
Dawg Pound 81, Reapers 76<\/p>\n
What Now 90, B.P.E 77<\/p>\n
I-Can All Stars 90, Elevate 83<\/p>\n
JIM 86, Cititeam Blazers 82<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s Drew League<\/p>\n
Lights Out 64, TNSS 50<\/p>\n
Lady Jedi 68, Remix 60<\/p>\n
Pasadena Elite 78, What Now 67<\/p>\n
Undisputed Legends 71, Gage 58<\/p>\n
Originally Published: July 27, 2025 at 10:29 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a small murmur as the hooded figure entered the King Drew gym alone on Saturday. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-42360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}