According to Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times, Shaquille O’Neal says that he received plenty of cash while playing at LSU.
With his son Shareef, a 6-foot-8 forward in the Class of 2018 already weighing scholarship offers from the likes of UCLA and Kansas, among many others, Shaq made his preference known, saying that he’s like his oldest son to attend his alma mater.
Shaq on his years at LSU: Yes, they paid very well.” Then he added, “Hey, the statute of limitations is up.” He was laughing.
Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) January 26, 2016
Knowing how the NCAA gets down, they might not find his statement to be very funny. His NBA on TNT colleague Charles Barkley has long been known to laugh off his pay-for-play arrangements while he was enrolled at Auburn, often joking that he got paid more playing for the Tigers than he did as a rookie with the Philadelphia 76’ers.
Shareef might not need the inducements that his dad once did, but I’m sure NCAA investigators will soon be checking into LSU’s current recruiting practices, since Shaq seems to be laughing at them and they happened to surprise everyone by snagging the best freshman in the country this year and another future #1 NBA Draft pick in Ben Simmons.
