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

kind of amplified like the hate you were getting as well for sure yeah i mean social media has its ups and downs with the with me and a lot of kids i feel like everybody knows 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 and i just feel like social media is a place where people won't say a lot of the stuff they type in person

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All right, guys, we got Sharif O'Neil here today.

How's it going, man?

Good, brother.

How you doing?

Good.

Can't complain.

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 is 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 course.

So I'm just starting to learn more about that stuff.

Yeah.

What's that transition like?

Because basketball is probably the main focus for your whole life, right?

Yeah, basketball has always been the main focus.

I'm still hooping.

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, he wants 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 that, you know, 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, yeah, 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.

I 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 it's a lot of stuff i want to do yeah jordan with the shoe brand was super innovation

and i know i think his sons take care of it now you know i feel like that's a a cool thing uh you know i want to you know take over my dad's companies one days you know i want to own my own stuff because you know just seeing how he moves and the people he knows from doing this business work is was really inspiring to me yeah that man knows everyone yeah everyone and 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, chilling in the locker room with 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, whoa, 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 and billions of dollars.

And, you know, that was the coolest thing I've heard in a long time.

Wow.

They were just casually talking to me.

Yeah, like, I don't even think they said millions one time.

It was just straight billions.

I'm like, it was crazy.

That's how you know you're in the right area.

Holy crap.

Yeah, because Shaq's products are in all the Walmarts, right?

Yes, and 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 was 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 would have to do?

Yeah, I always look to give back.

You know, I've been working with the 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 because that was crazy just seeing that from a distance.

Was there any signs you had a heart condition leading up to that moment?

Not a lot of people know this, but when I was a kid,

I would have a lot of problems.

Like elementary school, I missed a lot of elementary school living.

This is like around the time my dad was in Miami.

And I'd be at recess or PE.

You know, I'd pass out, wake up in the hospital.

We never knew what it was.

I missed months and months of school, and I got something called a little heart ablation.

And then when I was...

Growing up, you know, 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, you know, 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?

And, you know, I was like, it was fine.

It's something I did when I was a little kid.

And then he's like, I'm going to make you wear a heart monitor.

And I was very against it because, you know, I'm a freshman at UCLA.

I'm trying to get at girls.

I'm not going to get at girls with this heart monitor showing.

And then, you know, I took it off after a few days.

Is it on your...

Yeah, you could see it.

It was all like, you could see it poking up my shirts.

I used heart monitor.

So I took it off.

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that's rocketmoney.com slash dsh i don't need this i kind of kind of got upset i had to wear it and then he finally told me um if you don't wear it i'm not going to 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 beat really really fast like i would get lightheaded and you know i never got that feeling until I put that heart monitor back on and practice.

Oh, wow.

And I was running and I felt it.

And, 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'm like, I don't want to press the button.

I felt it.

I was like, I'm going to keep going.

And then I felt to do it a little bit again, and I was like, all right, I'm just going to 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 going to 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 I had that monitor on, you know, was a blessing.

So, I feel like that's the only sign 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.

So, you know, that's crazy.

Yeah.

Was that like something genetic or was it stress-induced?

I was the only one in my family who had it, really.

Yeah.

I know they,

everybody in my family got heart tests right after they found about me.

Oh, yeah, bad.

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 till 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.

Always played on teams.

Nobody knew, like maybe a few.

But when I was about 15, I had an eight o'clock in the morning game.

And I see a guy with the camera 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, blah.

Hoot mixtape.

And I've always loved hoot mixtape growing up.

Yeah, yeah.

And I'm like, oh, dang, I got a hoot mixtape.

Send it to all my friends.

Next day, million views.

Day after two million so it started like

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 Jim and I was like okay this is when it 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 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 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, 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.

and I just feel like social media is a place where people won't say a lot of the stuff they type in person.

So, for sure, I mean, 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 type of life.

Yeah, it was like, did you 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, wow, the most hate.

Talk about knocking you when you're down.

I know, yeah.

They were really trying, but, you know, it won't 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 you know it was kind of it was hard to do just 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 long, how many years did you play in college?

I played.

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One at UCLA, two at LSU, so just three years in college.

Got it.

And what was that transition from college to the 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.

You go by one person, you have all four other people in front of you.

G League, it's like you get past your man, you might have one other man you have to meet.

So you know, G League's more NBA style 101.

I feel like college is more coach versus coach strategy team.

It's a lot of zone, a lot of

you 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...

Gonna be like, oh, man,

it's gonna be hard.

But, you know, getting there, it wasn't bad at all.

You know, it was more like high school basketball for sure.

Wow.

I wonder if college will ever adapt or they're just because 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 had to relearn basketball, but 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 is kind of like, get that out of there.

Absolutely.

Have your basic knowledge about basketball, but just do what you do.

Yeah.

People talk about how the skill level has 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?

I 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 themselves.

So, you know, he got fouled, or Michael Jordan, all them got fouled.

You had to clothesline them for them to get a common foul.

You know, if you were to touch Michael Jordan nowadays, he would probably have 70 points a game.

So I feel like 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, 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, like, I haven't seen anybody like that in my life.

Ola Dipo?

No, no, not Victor.

I mean, not Victor Ola Dipo.

Wen Benyan.

I feel like in a few years, the NBA is going to be full of kids that are like that.

I swear.

Ten years, 7-4 kids all over the place.

How do you even guard that?

I guarded it one time.

I stopped the one player.

Oh, you did?

He still got the shot off, but he just missed.

So I would get that one on me.

I would count that.

Yeah, I'm counting it.

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.

They were making every.

Every player do the same drills.

And even when my dad was younger, he's like, you're not going to play like me.

I I mean, when I was younger, my dad would tell me, you guys aren't going to be playing like me.

You guys need to work out with a guy who's a guard.

You need to learn how to shoot.

You need to learn how to dribble.

And we never knew what he was talking about.

But, you know, now being older, I see he was right.

And this was when I was a kid, he's like, you need to know how to shoot.

I'm not going to teach you how to shoot.

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.

he was right.

And that's coming from a big man who respects that part of the game.

Yeah, too.

So, that's interesting.

Did he train you a lot growing up?

Oh, yeah, he did.

Never really liked working out with him when I was

his workouts are brutal.

But, you know, once he started putting us with other people, you know, 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

much.

He's not beating me.

Can he even dunk anymore?

Yeah, he can dunk.

He can still dunk.

That's impressive.

How old were you when you got your first dunk?

I was 13, eighth 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.

Jeez, I'm 13?

Yeah, because I always used to tap backboard.

And then it was a kid.

He plays in NBA now.

His name is Jules Bernard.

He went to my school.

He was always dunking.

And one day I'm like, you know, let me just try to dunk always tap backboard and i just they threw me a lob off the backboard and i did it so yeah and ever since then i started dunking your first dunk was a lob bro yeah

god damn so you probably could have dunked a 12 without i probably could have i just never tried because i was always so used to uh tapping the backboard but i'll say 13 is my first one god damn do you do you have a team you you like you cheer for um i don't really have a team i cheer for i like a lot of different players

yeah

uh of course i'm gonna say lakers because that's hometown and yeah you know 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, you know, SGA.

So many Paul James.

SGA's had a great couple years.

Yeah, he has.

Paul George.

Did I already say Jason Tatum?

Yeah, you said Tatum.

I like Anthony Edwards.

I could count so many players that I look after.

Like on the NBA app, I don't really have a set team.

I just have the players that

will send me their highlights and all that and the stats.

Who do you have winning this season?

It's tough to say.

It's kind of early, but.

It is.

I'm going to just go Lakers.

I want to see Braun get another one.

That's always been my favorite player.

So I just want to see Brian win, so I'm going to say Lakers.

I'm a Braun fan, dude.

Yeah, for sure.

And I have one of my college roommates is on that team, Alex Fudd.

Oh, so.

Yeah, I'm going to root for them always.

Nice.

What have been some of your conversations with Braun?

You know, they're always quick.

That sounds like Brown.

They're always quick.

Most of the times I've seen him, you know, it's after the game, before a game.

What's up, nephew?

How you doing?

I'm good.

Tell everybody I said hi.

Trying to think of like a real long conversation I've had with Brian one time.

Yeah.

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

get well message.

But every time I talk to Brian, it's always one to two minutes, just chopping it up, just, you know, just 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

minute.

And he's a super good person, you know.

Um,

every time I've seen him play, he just has that aura when he walks around, you know, like 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 some somebody great just walked in.

Yeah, it's just, 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, um, Kobe was always around.

It was more through DMs.

I've only really, he lived so far that, you know, it'd 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.

Or I know that day was a championship.

It's supposed to be their team versus my sister's team because those are 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.

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 actually talked about this two days ago.

It was just,

it's bad.

Yeah, it was, it was a 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 was.

I was a young kid when Michael Jackson died.

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.

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 la

some of us in atlanta someone else 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 for 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 will be the last time I talk to him.

This will be the last time I see him.

But, you know, when that happened, it kind of just like, it opened my eyes.

And I'm like, wow, like life is, life is really real.

And it's just, you can never take anything for granted.

Dude, I started texting people and just forgiving them.

I didn't want to leave on any bad notes with anyone.

Yeah, that's how I am now.

If I get an argument with a family member and it lasts for more than a few hours, you know, I'm going to always step up and be like, you know, I don't want to fight.

Wow.

So 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.

Yeah, transitioning from that, I guess, with Hackashack back in the day.

What did you feel about that?

Because

it was pretty crazy, man.

I didn't really understand.

Okay, a 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 or a little kids' family area.

And we would always be back there every single game from L.A.

all the way until

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 always in the kids room playing with the other kids like it was Gary Payton the second's back there Gary Payton's youngest son Julian's back there Udonis Haslam's son Zaire's back there like all the NBA players kids are always in the back in the practice court playing their own games so like I never really knew what was going on with my dad like I knew he was great but I never really watched it because I was always back there with the drinks.

Did you 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 like when we walked around in public.

Like, okay.

Oh, wow.

But Hakashack, like, I never really understood it.

Like, when I was growing up, I'm like, oh, they're just fouling him because he's big, they can't do anything.

But 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 new.

That's 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 God.

Or if he could shoot that extra

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?

He actually, I feel like I asked him one time when I was younger what it was.

And if 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.

Like there's a whole compilation on the internet of my dad holding things.

I've seen that, like five water.

He's holding a Coke can.

He's holding it with like two fingers.

like a men's basketball is a some people can't some grown men can't even palm a basketball but with him you know it looks like he's shooting a nerf ball yeah i understood that at home he'll make them at home he he'll make 10 threes in a row it's wow i swear like so it's i don't know what it was it's got to be met partially mental then the thing is i don't think anything mentally gets to him like the way he is like he's just so wired differently yeah even though it's 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.

Yeah.

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.

But yeah, he didn't seem to fear anything.

Is that something you sort of picked up from him as well?

For sure.

It was weird.

I've always been a very curious person.

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

sorry to bring you back to the surgery, but

they gave me an option.

They're like, you can either

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.

And then, you know, some people get the surgery.

They're like, the only consequences 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 a surgery i'm just gonna 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 if this is the last time i play basketball it's gonna be tragic so right 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.

Like, I was taking a little nap and I woke up to that news.

And it was just, you know, it wasn't like deja vu, but it was just, it's just crazy to me.

I'm like, I was at UCLA and happened my freshman year.

Bronny's at USC and happening 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, I'm 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 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 shied away from it because I'm like, I'm like, I just don't have that right feeling.

Was this before you got the surgery when it happened?

When Bronny's.

No, this was way after.

Bronny's happened not too long ago, but still, even just seeing it, it kind of like brought me back to that in-shock feeling.

I'm like, man, this is like, it's not good at all.

Yeah, dude, that is wild.

What are you passionate about outside of basketball and business?

Are you getting into music at all?

Yeah, I make beats here and there for fun.

I actually learned how to do that while I was recovering from my surgery.

And

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 when you're, 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.

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 like a future or a Drake or anybody on a beat that I've made, you know, that'll.

Dude, that'd be sick.

Yeah, that'd be awesome.

I just met I met Drake's Ghostwriter at the Durango last week.

What's the Durango?

It's a new hotel in Vegas.

Oh, damn.

I'll put you in touch with him.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, make sure you do that.

I gotta do that.

I need some artists on the song.

Yeah.

What games 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.

I'm gonna tell an embarrassing story now.

I've told this before, but 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 going to play through it.

So, yeah, when the player's tired, they're running extra slow.

They're missing shots.

Like, nothing's really good.

I've never played, so you're supposed to distribute it yourself.

Yeah, if you turn the stamina off, then I can spam the same player the whole time at full speed.

But with the stamina on, you know, you got to kind of spread it out and sub people and do all this.

And

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 stopped playing.

People go hard on that game.

I see it on Twitter and stuff for sure.

They do.

People dedicate like their whole life.

People even bet money on it.

Yeah, they have a whole league.

You can get drafted to a 2K league.

You're doing it.

You've seen it before.

Yeah.

They have like a whole league.

They do a 2K draft and all that.

And then, yeah, they make a lot of money from it.

So respect.

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?

Because it's 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 super villain, 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 played, but prototype, so like.

I don't even know how to explain this game.

It's so crazy.

It's that insane.

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?

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.

Was that your favorite movie series?

Superhero one?

Yeah, but my Spider-Man is Toby Maguire.

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 Maguire, Spider-Man.

People like the new guy.

What's Holland?

Tom Holland?

Yeah, Tom Holland.

I like all the Spider-Mans, but if I had to choose one, Toby Maguire for Man.

Same, honestly.

We grew up with that.

Yeah, we did.

That's like our basically our Michael Jordan.

Yeah.

Older people talk about Michael Jordan.

Yeah.

That's true, man.

And the new movie, they had all three of them.

It was pretty cool.

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, Yeah, I've only ever watched Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super.

I need to get into some more anime.

You could go down to a deep.

I know.

I have a whole list of anime we're 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 Bashov.

For sure, yeah.

It's coming out.

Man, on the business side of things, anything fun coming up there?

You know, there's a lot of networking I've been doing.

you know just looking forward to to getting to work learning from my dad you know i'm going to 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 just already more amazing than what i've experienced my 23 years of life so amazing 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 let's go 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 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.

Nah, because usually they play first, then do business.

Yeah, no, you're giving time.

Yeah, I'm doing that 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 you know 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 i'm not gonna lie last night i stayed up to about two three in the morning playing fortnight trying to get a 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, you know, building is kind of foreign to me now.

So, you know, ranked, I'll hide until the end and try to get some cheap, cheap snipes off or something.

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?

Nah, thank you for having me.

It was awesome, absolutely, man.

Yeah, thank you.

I didn't know you were that tall, bro.

You got me surviving.

We'll have to hoop at Lifetime, man.

For sure, let me know.

I'm always down.

All right, I'll see you guys next time.

Peace.