Shaq's Son Shareef O'Neal, Who Had Open Heart Surgery, Gives Advice To Bronny James On Recovery

The sports world has been showing an outpouring of support for LeBron James' 18-year-old son Bronny after he suddenly collapsed while practicing basketball at USC. And now, one of his father's former team mates son has reached out to Bronny to help him during his recovery.

Shaquille O' Neal's son, Shareef went through his own frightening heart-related scenario when he needed open heart surgery after collapsing because of a heart defect. Like Bronny, Shareef was a college freshman playing basketball at UCLA.

In a recent interview with ABC's Good Morning America, Shareef mentioned that he reached out to Bronny while he was in the hospital.

"I know people are going to saying they're praying for you and all that, you kind of just don't want to hear too much about that at the moment," Shareef said before giving advice on what helped him during his recovery. "If you make it out of this, you'll be the baddest man on the planet. It builds a fire up within you and it makes you want to go out and get it," he continued.

According to a statement from the University, Bronny had suffered cardiac arrest before being treated and sent to the ICU. Fortunately he is doing better and is in stable condition, however there's been no word on the cause of the cardiac episode or what this means for the future of his athletic career. His father LeBron tweeted out an update earlier today as well saying Bronny's condition is improving.

BRONNY AND SHAREEF HAD HEART ISSUES

In an unrelated podcast earlier this week, Shareef happened to be talking about Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who frighteningly also went into cardiac arrest during a football game earlier this year.

O' Neal says that the situation almost brought him a PTSD-like reaction.

“That just brought me back to 2018... It’s crazy, because I can go so long without thinking about it and one little thing that reminds me about it just brings it all back. That’s something I’m still trying to work on," he told the "Now For Later" podcast.

O'Neal says that Bronny is most likely going to have those same real-life reactions when heart-related incidents happen to other people, but it's important to just put everything in perspective.

Bronny James with his father LeBron James. (Credit: Getty Images)

Shareef credited his doctor for helping him when he began second-guessing his decision to continue playing basketball (he's currently on the Lakers G-League team) in light of what Hamlin went through on the field.

" was like, ‘What happened with Damar Hamlin is so rare and you’re fine.' He was a familiar voice who had something completely to do with my surgery and he’s the reason I’m here today, so hearing him talk to me completely wiped out."

Regardless of whatever happens with the much-hyped Bronny, one things for certain - at least he still is alive and hopefully an example to other athletes and athletic staff to make sure they are properly trained - especially with cardiac situations.