LSU forward Shareef O'Neal, the son of former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, has received a waiver from the NCAA and will be eligible immediately this season for the Tigers.
Shareef O'Neal announced the news Wednesday on Twitter.
"They cleared my waiver man!" he wrote. "Thank god I can play this season. I was waiting and scared it wasn't gonna happen! Thank you so much."
O'Neal left UCLA last winter and committed to LSU in February. Without a waiver, he would have had to sit out the first semester and likely wouldn't have been eligible to play until mid-December.
A 6-foot-9 forward, O'Neal has had a tumultuous past couple of years. He originally committed to Arizona but decommitted and committed to UCLA in February 2018.
O'Neal, an ESPN 100 recruit coming out of high school, was then forced to sit out his first season with the Bruins after being diagnosed with a right anomalous coronary artery and undergoing open-heart surgery to correct the issue. He wasn't cleared to return to the court until March of his freshman year.
O'Neal played 12 games for UCLA last season, averaging 2.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 10.2 minutes off the bench.