Pippen Jr. and Shareef O’Neal to the Lakers summer team

THE SECOND, Calif. — When the door to the Los Angeles Lakers’ training facility opened Tuesday, Scotty Pippen Jr. was on the court in rebounding position at the foul line — but he didn’t mutter any expletives from Lakers rookie Max Christie while throwing her ‘little gifts’ as Scotty Pippen’s father once did to Karl Malone.

And on an adjacent court, Shareef O’Neal was also taking foul line shots, but he didn’t shoot them to the rim, like his father did, who got a bad reputation for doing it that way.

They are not Scottie Pippen or Shaquille O’Neal. But the sons of these two NBA Hall of Famers made their inclusion on the Lakers’ summer team roster interesting, as they began training for the upcoming California Classic in San Francisco and the NBA 2K23 Summer League in Las Vegas.

“I would definitely like to say there’s a different kind of camaraderie for guys whose dads played in the NBA,” said 21-year-old Pippen Jr., who was drafted out of Vanderbilt and signed a two-way deal with LA last week. . “Because you have to go through this kind of whole process since we were little, I would say there’s always a different kind of pressure on us. A different kind of expectation. But hats off to all those guys, because playing this game when you Dad is such and such, the pressure is different when playing.”

While Shareef’s dad has an excellent resume with the Lakers organization — having won three championships, three-time Finals MVP and regular-season MVP during his eight seasons with the team — Pippen Jr. has a better chance being on the Lakers’ roster at the start of training camp.

Shareef O’Neal, 22, was undrafted after three challenging seasons at UCLA and LSU and the Lakers signed him to a Summer League deal.

“I was literally born into this team,” he said last week after pre-draft workouts with the Lakers. “My dad and Kobe [Bryant] they won championships when I was born, and now I’m part of the Lakers and I already was — it was crazy. I was speechless or something.”

While none of these Lakers prospects are expected to match their parents’ careers, they are nothing more than curiosities. Both have had rivals who put them through their learning curve especially because of the names on the jerseys on their backs. And if the Golden State Warriors’ championship earlier this month is any indication — winning the title with four second-generation NBA players on the roster in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II — this trail is just more than constant competition, it’s inherited wealth.

“I think people come to me more just because of who I am,” Pepen Jr. said. “But I think it goes for everyone. Everyone has a name on their back. I accept that. I think it’s good to go to the gym and every you want to give or better. So it’s fun for me.”