Digital Social Hour - Making to to the NBA, Hack a Shaq & Lessons from Kobe & LeBron | Shareef O' Neal DSH #349

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

Shareef O' Neal comes on the podcast to discuss where he's at on his NBA journey, what videogames he's playing and what he learned from talking to NBA legends. APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://forms.gle/qXvENTeurx7Xn8Ci9 BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] SPONSORS: Opus Pro: https://www.opus.pro/?via=DSH Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly Rocket Money: https://www.rocketmoney.com/dsh LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

kind of amplified like the hate you were getting as well for sure yeah i mean social media has its ups and downs with me and a lot of kids i feel like everybody you know lebron's proved he's the best player in the world and people still gonna find a way to hate and you know social media someone can talk so crazy because you don't know who it is they can make a burner page and say whatever they want i just feel like social media is a place where people won't say a lot of stuff they type in person wherever you guys are watching this show i would truly appreciate it if you follow or subscribe it helps a lot with the algorithm it helps us get bigger and better guests and it helps us grow the team truly means

a lot thank you guys for supporting and here's the episode all right guys we got sharif o'neal here today how's it going man yeah brother how, brother. How you doing? Good. Can't complain. Good. What you been working on? I see you kind of taking a step back from hooping a bit, right? Yeah, this year, just been chilling, you know, spending a lot of time with my family, just working, learning more about the business side of, you know, basketball and, you know, just life.

I feel like that's an important thing to know when you're growing up is just the business things. And my dad does a great job of being a businessman on and off the court. So, you know, I'm just starting to learn more about that stuff. Yeah. What's that transition like? Because basketball is probably the main focus for you your whole life, right? Yeah, basketball has always been the main focus.

You know, I'm still hooping. You know, I just took a little break to kind of learn more about the business things. And, you know, he's always preached that on us, that we don't need another basketball player. You know, you want someone to take over this company, that company. And, you know, while hooping, I'm still going to learn about the business stuff. So, you know, I'm looking forward to taking over some things, owning some things of my own. That's cool, dude.

Which one of the businesses interests you the most at this point? I mean… There's so many. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Yeah, he has too many commercials. You know, I want to do my own business one day. You know, I love pizza,

love Papa John's. You know, he has so many things, but I want to do my own business. You know, I want to do some stuff with shoes, fashion, you know, just all types of stuff. There's a lot of stuff I want to do. Yeah, Jordan with the shoe brand

was super innovational. Yeah, I know. I think his sons take care of it now. You know, I feel like It's a lot of stuff I want to do. Yeah, Jordan with the shoe brand was super innovational. I know. I think his sons take care of it now. I feel like that's a cool thing. I want to take over my dad's companies one day. I want to own my own stuff because just seeing how he moves and the people he knows from doing this business work was really inspiring to me. Yeah, that man knows everyone. Yeah, everyone, everybody.

Crazy. And you got to grow up and meet these people. What was that like? It was different. work is was really inspiring to me yeah that man knows everyone yeah everyone everybody crazy and you got to grow up and meet these people what was that like um it was it was different you know it kind of hits different now now that i'm older you know realizing the people i was around you know children in the locker room with no d-way lebron kobe and then you know now that i'm older i got to meet like the owners of walmart and a bunch of other brands and i'm like well these people are you know kind of cooler than most people i've met just because, you know, Walmart is everywhere. And these people were just talking billions of billions of dollars. And, you know, that was the coolest thing I've heard in a long time. Wow. They were just casually talking. Yeah.

I don't even think they said millions one time. It was just straight billions. It was crazy. That's how you know you're in the right room. Holy crap. Yeah. Cause Shaq's products are in all the Walmarts, right? he i know he i think he has the record for most money spent in one walmart and that was on your christmas right yeah yeah and he just like we went he went christmas shopping for us and then you know there's a lot of people in the store and he just what do you guys want what do you guys want just buying kids toys buying them bikes computers phones he's just you know when he's in that happy mood he'll just kind of splurge on anybody around. So, you know, that's a good thing about him.

He's so giving. Is that something you kind of witness? Yeah, I always look to give back. You know, I've been working with American Heart Association, you know, to promote heart health and kind of give back to them after what I went through with the surgery and all that. So, you know, I'm giving back there. You know, I always look to, you know, take care of people that, you know, that need to be taken care of. Yeah, dude, I want to dive into

that surgery. Cause that was crazy. Just seeing that from a distance. Was there any signs you had a heart condition leading up to that moment? Um, not a lot of people know this, but when I was a kid, uh, I would have a lot of problems like elementary school. I missed a lot of elementary school living. And this was was around the time my dad was in Miami. I'd be at recess or PE. I'd pass out, wake up in the hospital. We never knew what it was. I missed months and months of school. I got something called a little heart ablation. Then when I was growing up, my mom would take me to get a stress test every year. Every single doctor would clear me to play basketball.

Freshman year of college at UCLA, the trainer, Shane, he saw my medical records because UCLA is such a great medical school. They saw my medical records, and he's like, why are you in the hospital all this time? I was like, it was fine. It's something I did when I was a little kid. He's like, I'm going to make you wear a heart monitor. I was very against it because I'm a freshman freshman at UCLA I'm trying to get at girls

I'm not gonna get girls with this heart monitor showing and then you know I took it off after a few days because is it on your yeah you could see it was all like you could see it poking on my shirt so I took it off you know I'm like shout out to rocket money have you guys ever had a subscription you forgot about or double paid on a subscription? Look no further than Rocket Money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that you can use to track and cancel unwanted subscriptions and monitor your spending.

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That's rocketmoney.com slash DSH. I don't need this. I kind of got upset i had to wear and then he finally told me um if you don't wear it i'm not gonna clear you so i'm like cool i'll wear it and he's like if you feel anything just press the button and when i was a kid when before i pass out my heart would be really really fast like i would get lightheaded and you know i never got that feeling until i put that heart monitor back on in practice oh wow and i was running and i felt it you know i'm like okay that was weird i still didn't want to

press the button because i'm like i'm so against this heart monitor i might not want to press the button i felt it i was like i'm gonna keep going and then i felt to do it a little bit again and i was like all right i'm just gonna press the button cool and then boom that's how they found it so i mean it was super weird to me you know i feel like it wasn't a sign that i was gonna have to get heart surgery i feel like it was a sign from above that i needed to press that button because i haven't got that little rapid heart feeling since i was a kid and the fact that i finally got it again when when i had that uh monitor on you know was a blessing so i feel like that's the only sign i really i really saw

leading up to that yeah so you believe it was like a sign to slow down a little bit, maybe? For sure. You know, I felt it once and I kind of brushed it off. But once I felt to do it again in the same practice, I was like, let me just press it because, you know, maybe it won't be that bad. Maybe it's just something they'll see. And me not realizing it's a whole heart, it was always going to be not so good if something's wrong. That's crazy. Was that something genetic or was it stress-induced? I was the only one in my family who had it, really.

I know everybody in my family got a heart test right after they found out about me. Oh, yeah, I bet. I was the only one. I was the unlucky one, but it's all good. Damn. Yeah. That is crazy, man. Growing up, did you feel a lot of pressure to kind of make it to the league and everything? I say yes, but no.

Most of my years, I want to say it was until I was about 15, people didn't know who I was. And then it wasn't like a set plan my family had, but I always went to school. Nobody knew who my family was. I always played on teams nobody knew like maybe a few but um when i was about 15 i had an eight o'clock in the morning game and i see a guy with the camera uh down there and i'm like oh somebody's filming the game cool i had a great game i would say about seven hours later shaq's 15 year old son blah blah mixtape and i've always loved hoop mixtape growing up. And I'm like, oh dang, I got a hoop mixtape. Send it to all my friends.

Next day, million views. Day after two million. So it just started growing like crazy. My Instagram started growing. And then I think the next game I had was about two weeks later and it was packed. And I was like, okay, this is when it kind of hits. And you know,

I didn't really feel pressure because he always told us we don't need another hits. And, you know, I didn't really feel pressure because he always told us we don't need another basketball player. But, you know, I wanted to go to the NBA. I wanted to play basketball. So, you know, the more I dove into it, the more pressure I kind of felt. But then again, me, I don't really believe in pressure because, you know, my name's not Shaquille O'Neal. I'm Sharif.

We play two different styles, you know, two different eras. So it's kind of there, but it's kind of not at the same time. I feel that. And do you feel like social media kind of amplified, like, the hate you were getting as well? For sure, yeah. I mean, social media has its ups and downs with me and a lot of kids. I feel like everybody, you know, LeBron's proved he's the best player in the world

and people are still going to find a way to hate. And, you know, know social media someone can talk so crazy because you don't know who it is they can make a burner page and say whatever they want um i just feel like social media is a place where people won't say a lot of stuff they type in person so for sure i mean yeah it for sure built up the hate uh you know i got a lot of i actually got more hate comments going through my surgery process than any other time. Really? Yeah. You think you'd get support for that? I did get support, but it was a lot of people who were saying crazy stuff.

And that was a time where I was actually on my phone a lot. So, you know, I got to see it. But I would say my surgery is when I got the most, like, the most hate. Talk about knocking you when you're down. I know. Yeah. They were really trying, but, you know, it won't work. Yeah. Oh, so your mental health didn't get affected at all from that?

Not from what people were saying. I think it was just for I was getting affected by the condition i was in you know i was kind of out of the loop for a second i was off of a lot of medication um you know i didn't feel like myself i went into that surgery i think i was about 215 and when i got out i was like 164 damn you know look yeah it was bad how long were you in the hospital i was in the i was supposed to be in there for like two to three weeks i think i made it out in like eight or nine days because i was trying to get out so bad but i have pictures of like how i looked you can see my ribs my arms skinny like crap it looked crazy so i was that's kind of what affected me a lot you know i couldn't

play basketball i kind of i did step away from school for my freshman year because you know even being around the team and just seeing it, it was hard to do this because I wanted to be out there. I was supposed to be out there. I was just playing two weeks before this, and I just needed a break from everything. I just spent a lot of time with my family and friends. Nice.

And that was at LSU? That was at UCLA. Oh, okay. Got it. So how many years did you play in college um i played are you interested in coming on the digital social hour podcast as a guest we'll click the application link below in the description of this video we are always looking for cool stories cool entrepreneurs to talk to about business and life click the application link below and here's the

episode guys one at ucla two atSU, so just three years in college. Got it. And what was that transition from college to the G League like? I'm not going to lie. I feel like the G League was a bit easier than college. Yeah, I actually think so a lot. You know, I feel like college is more team basketball, team defense. You have to go by one person.

You have all four other people in front of you. league it's like you get past your man you might have one other man you have to meet so yeah you know g league is more nba style 101 i feel like college is more coach versus coach strategy team it's a lot of zone a lot of uh you got to be able to knock down that open shot in college i feel like with the g league i had more leeway to kind of dribble, get to the rim, do whatever I wanted. So I feel like it was a little bit easier than college, not going to lie. Dude, that's interesting because I've had on NBA guys, and they say NBA is more like high school basketball. It really was. I thought going to the G League, I was going to be like, oh, man, this is going to be hard.

But getting there, it wasn't bad at all. It was more like high school basketball for sure. Wow. I wonder if college will ever adapt because they're just, cause they use the same systems from like 80 years ago. Yeah, I know. I hope they do. You know, I feel like, you know, college basketball, it had me confused. I forgot how to relearn basketball. I'm like, what are we doing? Like, what is this? What kind of defense is this? But, you know, going to the G league, all the stuff that I learned in college was kind of like, get that out of there.

Absolutely. You have your basic knowledge about about basketball but just do what you do so yeah people talk about how the skill level's just gotten so insane now and do you feel like it's way harder to make the nba than it was like in the 90s um actually had this conversation with my dad he was saying if he played now he would be considered the best athlete because you can't touch anybody now without fouling them so so you know he got fouled or michael jordan all them got fouled you had to clothesline them for him to get a common foul you know if you were to touch michael jordan nowadays he would he would probably have 70 points a game because you know so he i feel like it's it's kind of harder to make it now the skill set is way crazier than it was but i feel like the people in the 90s were for sure strive way more now

because you can't get fouled now. Yeah, it's more technical now. It's not like as much, I guess, power. Yeah, it's not more power. You know, there's people my size, you know, weigh 200. You don't have to be the biggest guy. You can be the fastest, the highest jumping, but there's always someone on every team

that's like another person. So, you know, even people like Victor. I haven't seen anybody like that in my life. Oladipo? No, no, not Victor. I mean, not Victor Oladipo. Wim Benyam. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I feel like in a few years the NBA is going to be full of kids that are like that. I swear. Ten years, seven, four kids all over the place. How do you even guard that? I guard it. I stopped the world play. Oh, you did? Okay, okay.

He still got the shot off, but he just missed. So I'm going to get that one on me. I would count that. Yeah, I'm counting it one time. I stopped the one play. Oh, you did? Okay, okay. He still got the shot off, but he just missed. So I'm going to get that one on me. I would count that. Yeah, I'm counting. Damn. But you're what? You're 6'9". But I feel like these days people your height need to have a jump shot.

For sure. You kind of need a jump shot. I feel like when I was doing my pre-draft stuff, it didn't matter what height you were there, making every player do the same drills. And even when my dad was younger he's like you're not gonna play like I mean when when I was younger my dad would tell me you guys aren't gonna be playing like me you guys need to work out with the guy who's a guard you need to learn how to shoot when you learn how to dribble and we never knew what he was talking about but you know now being older I see he was he was right and this was when I was a kid he's like you need to know

how to shoot I'm not need to know how to shoot. I'm not going to teach you how to shoot. I'm not going to teach you how to shoot, but I'm going to put you with someone else. Oh, wow. So he saw the game changing. That's cool. Yeah, he really did. And it was weird how he saw it.

But I don't know where he saw it from, but he knew a long, long time ago that it was going to change. Wow. And that's coming from a big man who respects that part of the game, too. That's interesting. Did he train you a lot growing up? Yeah, he did. Never really liked working out with him when I was younger. His workouts are brutal.

But once he started putting us with other people, that's when we started to fall in love with the game a little bit. Nice. How old were you when you beat him for the first time, one-on-one? I would say about 16. Okay. He was fresh off of a surgery. I want to say it was his Achilles or something like that or a toe surgery.

But I got him when he was down. But I'm still going to count it. He can't beat me now. He's too slow. Oh, definitely not. He's not beating me. Can he even dunk anymore? Yeah, he can dunk.

He can still dunk, yeah. That's impressive. How old were you when you got your first dunk? I was 13, 8th grade. I wish I had the video. I still look for it all the time, but I can't find it. I threw it off the backboard, and then I dunked it. Jeez, at 13?

Yeah, because I always used to tap backboard. It was a kid. He plays in the NBA now. His name is Jules Bernard. He went to my school. He was always dunking. One day, I'm like, let me just try to dunk. I'll always tap backboard.

It threw me a lob off the backboard, and I did it. Ever since then, I started dunking. Your first dunk was a lob, bro? Yeah. God damn. So you probably could have dunked a 12 at that point. I probably could have. I just never tried because I was always so used to tapping the backboard. But I'll say 13 is my first one. God damn.

Do you have a team you like, you cheer for? I don't really have a team I cheer for. I like a lot of different players. Players. Yeah. Of course I'm going to say Lakers because that's hometown. Yeah. I was an NBA team that gave me a chance, so they'll always have my respect. But I just have a lot of favorite players.

Nice. Who are some of your players? I like LeBron, Jason Tatum, SGA. So many. SGA's had a great couple years. Yeah, yeah. Paul George. Did I already say jason tatum oh yeah you said i did um i like uh anthony edwards so many i could count so many players

that i look yeah look after like on the nba app uh i don't really have a set team i just have the players that send me their uh highlights and all that yeah that's that who do you have winning this season it's tough to say it's kind of early but it is um i'm gonna just go lakers i want to see braun get another one that's always been my favorite player so i just i want to see braun win so i'm gonna say lakers i'm a braun fan dude yeah for sure and i have one of my uh college roommates is on that team alex fudd so oh yeah i'm a root for. Nice. What have been some of your conversations with Bron, like? You know, they're always quick. That sounds like Bron.

They're always quick. Most of the times I've seen him, you know, it's after the game, before the game. What's up, nephew? How you doing? I'm good. Tell everybody I said hi. I'm trying to think of like a real long conversation I've had with Bron one time. Yeah. like a real long conversation i've had with bron one time yeah uh i want to say it was after my surgery or like during that time when he just you know kind of just sent me like a little

a little get well message but every time i talk to bron it's always one to two minutes just chopping it up just you know yeah reconnecting it's always quick but it's always good to see him yeah i think when you're a billionaire you really value every yeah. And he's a super good person, you know. Every time I've seen him play, he just has that aura when he walks around, you know. I feel like if you were in a room and your back is facing the door and LeBron walks in, you could tell something like somebody great just walked in. Yeah. It's just a super cool thing.

Only two people have that feel like that I've met is Kobe and LeBron. Wow. Yeah. And I know you talk to Kobe a bit more than him, right? Yeah. Kobe was always around. It was more through DMs. I've only really – he lives so far that, you know, it would be kind of hard to catch him.

I caught him a little bit when Gigi would play basketball because her and my youngest sister were always in the same tournament. They also had the same birthday. And then I know the day they passed, he was playing. I want to say he was playing my sister's team. Oh, wow. If I'm saying that right, or they were playing after, before, or against my sister's team, where I know that day was a championship. It was supposed to be their team versus my sister's team because those were the two best teams.

But yeah, we talked a lot, especially during my surgery. He just checked in on me every day while I was in the hospital. Nice. Yeah.

Dude, you hear so many legendary stories of him and I feel like he still lives in a lot of people. For sure he does. Yeah, I have this necklace on

with Kobe and Gigi on it right now. Wow. Yeah, he for sure is a legend and always will be one. Yeah. Dude,

that's the one moment like i remember where i was when i found out yeah i do too i still actually talked about this two days ago just it's bad yeah it was crazy day like that's never happened with me with a celebrity death yeah me either actually one other michael jackson i know exactly where i wasn't i was a young kid with michael jackson yeah i don't remember where I was. I remember Michael Jackson. I mean, I remember where I was when Michael Jackson died. And then the Kobe one, I could go, like, from the wake up to the end of the day. I know that story, like, completely.

Yeah, because your family was obviously super close. Yeah, and we were all spread apart a little bit, which made it kind of worse. So it was, like, a few of us out in L.A., some of us in Atlanta, someone else in the – yeah, so it was kind of a it hit different that day for sure yeah that must have been like a huge pivotal moment in your life right sure yeah it changed a lot you know it just changed how i kind of viewed everything you know because kobe seemed like one of those people like nothing could ever happen to but and you know just it's a lot of people you know you think about that like you don't think on a daily basis okay this would be

the last time i talked to him this would be the last time i see him, you think about that. You don't think on a daily basis, okay, this will be the last time I talk to him. This will be the last time I see him. But when that happened, it kind of just opened my eyes. And I'm like, wow, life is really real. You can never take anything for granted. Dude, I started texting people and just forgiving them. I don't want to leave on any bad notes with anyone. Yeah, that's how I am now.

If I get in an argument with a family member and it lasts for more than a few hours you know i'm gonna always step up be like you know i don't want to fight wow i don't take the high road for sure yeah i'm not i don't want to risk it at all because you know yeah you really never know man yeah you don't know anything damn um yeah transitioning from that i guess with uh with hackashack back in the day what did you feel about that because Because it was pretty crazy, man. I didn't really – okay, the crazy thing is, it sounds pretty wild, but growing up we would be at the games, but we never watched the basketball games. Every single team has, you know, a little practice court,

a little kids' family area, and we would always be back there, every single game from L.A la all the way until well we stopped we really stopped going to the games when it was like the cleveland boston days but from like la phoenix and the miami days we are always in the kids room playing with other kids like it was gary payton's seconds back there gary payton's youngest son julian's back there udonis haslam's son zaire's back there. All the NBA players' kids are always in the back in the practice court playing their own games. So I never really knew what was going on with my dad. I knew he was great, but I never really watched it because I was always back there with other kids.

You didn't see it on the news, though? Nah, I didn't really look at the news or anything like that. I can only really tell by the way it was when we walked around in public. But Hackershack, I never really understood it. really tell by the way it was like when we walked around in public like okay oh wow but hack a shack like i never really understood it like like when i was growing up i'm like oh they're just following them because he's big they can't do anything but yeah i didn't really know it's because he wasn't the best free throw shooter but now it makes sense like it makes sense now but growing up i didn't really understand it at all wow they had to make a whole rule i know they did that is

not hilarious that's when you know you're different i know yeah i mean imagine if he could make like if he would have made all those free throws oh my gosh or if he could shoot that extra uh extra jump shot yeah yeah he would have been unstoppable do you think the free throw thing was just mental because obviously he's practicing them but do you think it was just like a mental block or something um he actually i feel like i asked him one time when i was younger like what it was and if you you ever see a men's basketball in his hands, I understand why it was so hard to shoot. It looks like he's holding a Nerf ball.

There's a whole compilation on the internet of my dad holding things. I've seen that, like five water bottles. He's holding a Coke can. He's holding it with two fingers. A men's basketball is a – some grown men can't even palm a basketball, but with him it looks like he's shooting a Nerf ball. I understood that.

At home, he'll make them. At home, he'll make 10 threes in a row. Wow. I swear. I don't know what it was. It's got to be partially mental then. The thing is, I don't think anything mentally gets to him. The way he is, he's just so wired differently.

Even though my dad just seeing, now being older and seeing how he's wired and how he moves, it's just, I don't think anything really affects him. And I don't know if it was mental or if it was just, I don't know what it was. That's something for him to answer. It's weird because at home he'll make them, you know, when it mattered at the game, he would make them. But it's just at home he's like Steph Curry I swear if you got videos you got to show me later I got you that's actually crazy picturing him making 10

threes in a row um but yeah he didn't seem to fear anything is that something you sort of picked up from him as well for sure um it was weird uh I've always been a very curious person you know yeah I feel like I can scare myself more in my mind than I can, like, being in that exact moment. And, you know, with him being my dad and how my mom is, I really don't, they never let us see them down or, like, sad or mad. If they're sad, they're going to be the happiest person in the world just so we can see that.

So, you know, being around them and growing up with my parents you know i feel like when i was in a scary situation i was like only thing i know is to just go through it and not back up because uh sorry to bring you back to the surgery but uh they had they gave me an option they're like you can either uh not not get the surgery you can play basketball it might not ever happen you know some people have this in their life and they make it to their 90 years old uh and then you know some people get the surgery they're like the only consequence with that is you can put your shoes on any day and it could be over with and i was so scared of the surgery i'm like i've never broken a bone i've never gotten any surgery so i was like i'm not gonna get surgery i'm I'm just going to play. Yeah, yeah. And play. And if something happens, something happens. But, you know, I was thinking in the moment.

And then I tied my shoes like a little bit after. And I'm like, you know, this is the last time I play basketball. It's going to be tragic. So I finally was like, you know, stop being scary. Stop being a punk and just go through the surgery. And, you know, I went in it. And I feel like if it wasn't for my parents being there and how they raised me, I honestly would have folded on that surgery

and probably just stopped playing basketball. Yeah, that's such a pivotal moment, man. Jeez. And it is scary, man. I mean, you saw what happened to Bronny, right? Yeah, I did. I was – I think I woke up to that news. I was taking a little nap when I woke up to that news,

and it was just – it wasn't like deja vu, but it was just crazy to me. I'm like, I was at UCLA and it happened my freshman year. Ronnie's at USC and it happened his freshman year. Crazy. And I'm just like, it kind of hit close to home. I'm like, even though it's a rival school, I'm like, that's still a really close friend of my little brother and my whole family. And, you know, seeing it happen to someone

you know it kind of it just it kind of scared me a little bit like when it happened I want to say I was going to work out that day but I kind of like shied away from it because I'm like wow I'm like I just don't have that right feeling was this before you got the surgery when it happened uh when Bronny's no this was way after this Bronny's happened not too long ago but still like even just seeing it kind of like brought me back to that like in shock feeling i'm like man this is like it's not good at all so yeah yeah that is wild what are you passionate about outside of basketball and business are you getting into music at all um yeah i make beats here and there for fun i actually learned how to do that while i was recovering from my surgery and um actually i've actually always been pretty good at video

games but i want to start streaming. I just kind of got to watch what I say. Oh, yeah. You saw that one player. I forgot his name. Yeah, I don't want to get canceled. I got to watch my mouth sometimes. Which is tough because sometimes you rage.

Sometimes you do rage. Sometimes you get so hyped that you just might say anything. But I'm going to start streaming soon. I'm going to start getting out some beats to people. A big goal of mine was always to get, not even win a Grammy or anything, but I'm going to start streaming soon. I'm going to start getting out some beats to people. A big goal of mine was always to get, not even win a Grammy or anything, just get some of my favorite rappers or artists just to rap on a

beat that I've made. They don't have to post or anything, but if I can hear a Future or a Drake or anybody on a beat that I've made, that'll be awesome. I just met Drake's Ghostwriter at the Durango last week. What's the Durango?

It's a new hotel in Vegas. Oh, dang. I'll put you in touch with him. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, maybe. I need some artists on the song. Yeah. What games do you play?

I just started playing Fortnite again. I've been playing Fortnite, Call of Duty, GTA. This sounds crazy, but I'm horrible at 2K. Really? Yeah. Damn. I'm going to tell an embarrassing story. I've never told this before.

Oh, God. I was probably like 17 at the time. My youngest sister might have been 13 or 14. I think I lost by like 37 points. You lost your sister. She was like 14. I lost by like 37 points. Because my thing is I always spam one player,

and the stamina bar is like low. I'm not subbing them out they're just gonna play through it so you know when the player's tied they're running extra slow they're missing shots like nothing's really you're supposed to I've never played so you're supposed to distribute it yeah if you turn the stamina off then I can spam the same player the whole time full speed but with the stamina on you know you got to kind of spread it out like and sub people and do all this and yeah i was playing horrible that day and you know i never really i always play 2k but i play my career if i play in the park nobody passes me the ball i'm just i feel like a loser out there so i stop playing people go hard on that game i see it on twitter and stuff for sure they do people

dedicate like their whole lot people even bet money on it yeah they have a whole league like you can get drafted to a 2K league. You ever seen that before? No. They have a whole league. They do a 2K draft and all that. Yeah, they make a lot of money from it, so respect. That's nuts.

Are you hype about the new GTA? Yes, I am. A big thing about GTA is you always got to make sure you live a perfect life before it comes out. Why? It was just 2026. No, it's like 2026, so you're like, all right, I just got to stay calm until then. Don't mess up. Don't do anything wild until then.

You got to always have a good chance of getting GTA 6 if you just keep it mellow. I feel that. What's your favorite video game of all time? I'm not going to lie. I'm going to say Prototype. Do you remember that game you ever played, Prototype? What is that? Prototype.

It was a – I can't even explain. It's like, let's say GTA Open World. It's a guy, you know. It's an apocalypse. I don't even know how to explain this game. Is it a shooter? Is it a – It's like you're a supervillain, superhero.

Okay. This dude, he can just do whatever he wants. It's like a – I don't even – it's the best game I ever're a super villain superhero okay this dude he can just do whatever he wants it's like a i don't even it's it's the best game i ever played my prototypes are like i don't even know how to explain this game it's so crazy i'll check it out i'm a pc gamer i wish i could explain prototype but if people know what prototype is they'll know what i'm talking about all right what's your system xbox uh ps5 i just switched two years ago i was xbox but i switched to ps5 yeah i'm a pc gamer dude i need to get a pc i only got a ps5 so i can play the spider-man games oh yeah yeah that's why i switched so is that your favorite uh movie series uh yeah but my spider-man is toby mcguire oh the original one

right yeah for sure that's my spider-man there's always that debate like which one's the best yeah i'm toby mcguire spider-man people like the new guy what's uh holland uh tom holland yeah tom holland i like i like all the spider-mans but if i had to choose one toby mcguire same honestly we grew up with that yeah we did that's like our our basically our michael jordan yeah older people talk about michael jordan yeah that's that's true man and the new movie they had all three of them. It was pretty cool to see. Yeah, that was super cool. Yeah.

I like that. Are you big on movies and shows? Not as much as I used to be. I like a lot of superhero movies. Anime? Just Dragon Ball Z. That's all I've ever watched. And then, I'm trying to think. Yeah, I've only ever watched Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super.

That's a good one. I need to get into some more anime. You could go down a deep hole, man. I have a whole list of anime I'm supposed to watch. I haven't started yet. Dude, I dedicated, when I was in college, 10 hours a day to it. Really? You could get addicted, man.

I know. That's why I'm scared. I got to chill with the TV a little bit. Especially with all the business you're about to start doing in basketball. For sure, yeah. It's going to be a lot. On the business side of things, anything fun coming up there um you know there's a lot of networking i've been doing um you know just looking forward to getting to work learning from my dad

you know i'm gonna spend a few months moving around with him i've spent these past few months moving around with him and the people i've met and you know the things i've seen and heard is it's already more amazing than what i've experienced my 23 years of life. So I can't wait for, you know, this new year to come up and some new opportunities. And, you know, people will be seeing me on these commercials and me on these billboards. So, you know, I'm working towards it. You know, I got to learn. I'm finishing school right now.

You know, I'm going back to get my degree. And then, yeah, I'm going to be working soon. Oh, sick. That's cool to see you still stick it out with school for sure yeah i left a little bit to go do um g league and go you know chase my dreams and you know when i realized i could do both play basketball and do work and do business you know i kind of clicked more so yeah wow you'd be like the first player to pull that off i feel like i mean i feel like someone has but actually i don't know. No, because usually they play first, then do business. Yeah, not at the same time.

Yeah, I'm doing it at the same time. You know, there's a lot of, like there's time for basketball and there's a lot of free time I have. So, like, why not finish school? You know, why not learn about these business things? So, you know, I can do both at the same time. And I'm good with managing my time, still getting enough sleep, still getting an hour or two to play my video games.

So, like, once I had a set schedule, I was like, i can definitely do this so yeah you got a balanced life man i know yeah not many people can pull all that off i mean video games some people play eight ten hours a day it can happen like last night i stayed up to about two three in the morning playing fortnight trying to get a win i always try to get one win a day and if it don't happen, I kind of... Do you do ranked or non-ranked? I'll do ranked sometimes, but those kids are too good. Those kids are too good. I can't do build anymore. I started playing no build so

much that building is kind of foreign to me now. So, you know, ranked I'll hide until the end and try to get some cheap snipes off or something, but that's exactly what I do. I'm going to push sniping until the very end. For sure. That's what I do.

Oh, man. Well, it's been fun, dude. Anything you want to close off with? No, thank you for having me. It was awesome. Absolutely, man. I didn't know you were that tall, bro. I actually survived it.

We'll have to hoop our lifetime, man. For sure. Let me know. I'm always down. All right. I'll see you guys next time. Peace.