EL SEGUNDO — There is a natural draw to highlighting the parallels: 18 years after his father last played for the Lakers, Shareef O’Neal walked into the team’s El Segundo facility on Tuesday morning for his own workout.

In spite of the franchise seeming like a birthright for him – he was born at the dawn of the dynasty that his father Shaquille O’Neal spearheaded, landing three straight titles – the 22-year-old Shareef admitted that he was taken aback by the experience of dressing in purple and gold.

“It was crazy,” he said. “I was speechless, kind of.”

And yet for that dazzling feeling of a homecoming, getting an evaluation from the franchise that retired his father’s jersey, what will come to define Shareef O’Neal’s career is how far his story branches off from his dad’s.

They both are big men out of LSU, but whereas Shaq was a no-brainer No. 1 overall pick after an All-American college career, the hype of Shareef’s prep career at Santa Monica’s Crossroads School has largely faded into an unspectacular NCAA tenure made more difficult by health issues. Shaq was a dominant force who could back down every would-be defender he ever met; the wiry Shareef (who tips the scales at 215 pounds) openly admits he’s not that kind of player.

“I don’t play that back-down game,” he said. “The bigs in the league now bring the ball up, shoot 3s. I think (Shaq) only had one 3 in his whole career – no disrespect – but like, you got to be able to knock the shot down now. So I play a whole different game than he does.”

A UCLA career derailed by heart surgery and a sparse LSU career limited by foot injuries make for unimpressive numbers: Last season, Shareef averaged 2.9 points and 2.1 rebounds in just 14 games for the Tigers. But an appearance at the G League Elite camp in May stirred interest from NBA teams, and though he’s largely expected to go undrafted, Shareef felt ready to dive in.

It turns out the decision to go pro is its own divergence from his dad, who was raised by an Army sergeant and drilled in the importance of education. When asked if he was leaning on guidance from his Laker legend father, Shareef offered a surprising revelation: The two haven’t talked about his NBA prospects at all.

“We kind of bump heads about this process,” Shareef said. “He wanted me to stay in school. I wanted to better myself through this. He knows I’m working out with teams. But I’m not gonna lie, we ain’t talked about this.”

The Lakers have hosted other NBA sons during their predraft workouts, which ended on Tuesday. Scotty Pippen Jr. (Vanderbilt) dropped in earlier this month; Jabari Walker (Colorado), son of Shaq’s title-winning teammate Samaki Walker, worked out not long after. But given Shareef’s local ties as a prep star at Crossroads with a franchise icon for a father, he’s the biggest local legacy name in the mix.

One thing that eases the pressure on Shareef: He’s not alone. He is close with Gary Payton II, the journeyman guard who finally caught on this season with Golden State and rode his role to a championship last week. The two have known each other since their Hall-of-Fame fathers played on the Lakers and the Miami Heat – and he takes some comfort in knowing that he’s had to work through some adversity already.

“I kind of had to grind to get here; I had to grind a lot,” he said. “I had to go through some stuff these past four years – foot injuries, heart surgeries – and I don’t really look to be in his shadow. I know it’s always going to be there, the comparison. Every kid is going to get compared to their dad who does the same thing as them. So that’s going to be there. It doesn’t bother me.”

On his heart condition – discovered by then-UCLA trainer Shane Besedick, who now works for the Lakers and staffed Tuesday’s workout – O’Neal says he is past it. The coronary artery which could have killed him if left undiagnosed no longer has an impact on how he plays, he said: “The only reminder I have is the scar on my chest, but that doesn’t bother me no more.”

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His greatest challenge, then, could be convincing teams that a little-used college player can more closely resemble his high school dominance as a pro. He believes he opened some eyes last month at the G League event. It might be that his heart surgery that gave him an appreciation for seizing the moment and going pro.

In this case, even Shaq can’t stop him. Shareef hopes they get past it one day – but in the meantime, he has a goal to chase.

“I’m not backing down from nobody,” he said. “I know he’s an NBA legend, I know he’s my dad, but it was right in front of me, I had to go get it. So, if he likes it or not, it’s not really gonna stop me from doing what I want to do. Like I said, I want to play basketball. I want to get it. So I’m here.”

BRIEFLY

ESPN was first to report that Kendrick Nunn has exercised his $5.3 million player option for next season. Nunn was one of the Lakers’ top 2021 offseason free agent signings, but he never played a regular-season game for the team due to a right knee bone bruise that lingered throughout the season. In April, Nunn called his player option a “no-brainer” given his medical status. …

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Milwaukee player development coach Schuyler Rimmer is expected to join the Lakers’ staff under new head coach Darvin Ham. The Lakers also have reportedly hired Atlanta assistant Chris Jent while retaining Phil Handy, Jon Pastorek and Dru Anthrop from Frank Vogel’s previous staff. Quinton Crawford (incidentally Shareef O’Neal’s cousin) has been hired away by the Dallas Mavericks and former Lakers assistant Jason Kidd.