Shaquille O’Neal is joining Sacramento State to become the general manager of the school’s basketball program, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
The Hall of Famer is reportedly taking the role on a voluntary basis.
O’Neal will be joined by his son Shaqir at Sacramento State for the 2025-26 season. The 22-year-old announced in March that he was transferring to the Hornets for his senior year after playing 29 games and making 17 starts for Florida A&M this past season.
A 6-foot-8 forward, the younger O’Neal scored 6.7 points and grabbed 3.4 rebounds per game in 18.1 minutes per contest with the Rattlers. He joined Florida A&M after his freshman and sophomore campaigns with Texas Southern.
Sacramento State hired former NBA guard Mike Bibby in March to be its next head coach. Bibby played 14 seasons in the league but is likely best remembered for his six-and-a-half-year stint with the Sacramento Kings, during which he frequently battled Shaquille O’Neal’s Los Angeles Lakers in both the regular season and playoffs.
Under head coach Michael Czepil last season, Sacramento State went 3-15 (7-25 overall) and finished last in the Big Sky. The Division I program, which has posted an overall winning record in just two of its 34 seasons of existence, is still searching for its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
O’Neal has worked as an on-air analyst with TNT since 2011. He’s part of the network’s main quartet on “Inside the NBA” alongside host Ernie Johnson and fellow ex-NBAers Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.
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