UCLA’s O’Neal to miss season: heart ailment

UCLA freshman Shareef O’Neal will sit out the upcoming basketball season because of a heart condition that the son of Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal said is “risky.”

The younger O’Neal didn’t specify the condition in a TMZ Sports video, saying only that “I know it’s something serious and it’s risky.”

O’Neal said he will attend classes and take a medical redshirt.

UCLA said in a statement Friday that it will support O’Neal as he gets the issue resolved. The school said only that he was being sidelined for a medical reason and a spokesman declined to provide further details.

O’Neal said doctors discovered the condition after he “felt funny” during summer practices. The 6-foot-10 forward wore a heart monitor attached to a button that he pressed whenever he wanted to send an alert. He received the diagnosis a few weeks after pressing the button during a practice.

O’Neal played the previous two seasons at Crossroads High in Santa Monica. As a senior last season, O’Neal helped the school win the Division II state title for the first time since 1997 and averaged 27 points per game.

LSU basketball player Wayde Sims died after he was shot during a fight involving several men early Friday in Baton Rouge, La.

Sims, 20, was shot around 12:25 a.m. and died from his wounds at a hospital, Baton Rouge police said. The shooting happened near Southern University’s A.W. Mumford Stadium, where homecoming festivities are taking place this weekend.

Police, seeking information, were circulating a video of a fight among several men in a street which they believe led to the shooting of Sims.