Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to become the Sacramento State men’s basketball general manager, sources told ESPN.

It will be an unpaid, voluntary role for the Basketball Hall of Famer, whose son Shaqir O’Neal will play for Sacramento State under new coach Mike Bibby after transferring out of Florida A&M in late March to join the Hornets.

Shaquille O’Neal is the latest high-profile athlete to accept a general manager role with a school. NBA superstar Stephen Curry was named an assistant GM at his alma mater, Davidson, last month, and Hawks star Trae Young has that same role at Oklahoma. Retired NFL quarterback Andrew Luck last year accepted the GM position with his old school, Stanford.

O’Neal won four NBA titles, three NBA Finals MVPs and a league MVP during his 19-year career in the NBA. He is currently an analyst on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” show. He also served as a minority owner of the Sacramento Kings from 2013 to 2022.

Sacramento State is slated to open a new basketball facility on campus this fall. University president Luke Wood, an alum and the youngest president ever appointed in the California State University system, has been aggressive in his approach with the athletic programs — and the addition of Shaquille O’Neal continues that.

The Hornets hired Bibby, a 14-year NBA veteran and former Kings star, last month. He replaced Michael Czepil, who served as interim head coach for the 2024-25 season after David Patrick left to take a job as associate head coach at LSU.

Sacramento State went 7-25 this past season under Czepil and had gone 28-42 in two campaigns with Patrick at the helm. The program has not made an NCAA tournament since moving up to Division I in 1991 and has posted a winning record only twice since then, going 21-12 in 2014-15 and 16-14 in 2019-20.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Andrej Stojakovic, son of Peja and tops in portal, picks Illini

California transfer Andrej Stojakovic, the son of former NBA star Peja Stojakovic and one of the best available players in the portal, has committed to Illinois, he told ESPN on Monday.

Stojakovic chose the Fighting Illini over North Carolina and Stanford, where he started his college career.

Andrej Stojakovic, who was among the top talents in the transfer portal, has chosen Illinois over North Carolina and Stanford, where he started his college career. Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
“I think the main reasons were pretty clear to my inner circle as a basketball fit,” Stojakovic said. “Coach [Brad] Underwood has been very aggressive recruiting me from the start and constantly reiterating how much I’m wanted and needed as a basketball player there. They really believe I’m the missing piece to what they think is a national championship team.”

Stojakovic, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, pointed to the long line of bigger playmakers who have found success under Underwood in Champaign as a key factor in his decision.

“Their track record. Ayo Dosunmu, T.J. [Shannon], [Marcus] Domask, Will Riley, Kasparas [Jakucionis], bigger guards that are considered ball-handlers, that can relieve pressure for their teammates,” Stojakovic said. “I’m looking forward to being part of a team where I can bring the ball up and have shooters all around. I can also be a shooter, play on the wing, when someone else is bringing the ball up.”

A McDonald’s All American and top-25 recruit coming out of high school, Stojakovic struggled to find consistency as a freshman at Stanford. But after transferring to Cal last spring, he had a breakout season with the Golden Bears under Mark Madsen.

Stojakovic averaged 17.9 points and 4.7 rebounds this past season, and he finished the season by averaging 33.0 points in two ACC tournament games — shooting 7-for-13 from 3-point range in those contests.

“Being able to be one of those guards that can handle the ball, it helped me a lot this past year. The confidence coach Madsen gave me, being able to be that ball-handler,” Stojakovic said. “I’m confident I can go to a top 25 team and do the same.”

After losing Jakucionis and Riley early to the NBA draft, Underwood needed to rebuild his perimeter, leaving a clear opening for Stojakovic to play a huge role right away. He’s the second transfer addition of the spring for the Illini and becomes the fifth player with Balkan heritage on the roster. Stojakovic joins fellow Serbians Mihailo Petrovic and David Mirkovic and Croatian brothers Zvonimir and Tomislav Ivisic in what will be the most international team in the Big Ten.

With all the new faces, the key for Illinois next season will come on the defensive end of the floor. If all the pieces fit, the Illini should have one of the elite offenses in college basketball.

“I’m confident we can become one of the best offensive teams in the country, but it’s going to take a lot defensively,” Stojakovic said. “We have to hone in on the little stuff. It’s going to start with the guards, [we] have to set a tone that’s going to maybe be surprising to some people. We’re ready to surprise people defensively and I think we’re going to do great things.”

Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft expert and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a private scouting and analytics service used by NBA, NCAA and international teams.