Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal was featured on Boardroom’s latest cover story, and he also sat down with their Yoni Mernick for a rapid-fire session. O’Neal answered a wide variety of questions during it regarding business, basketball, and more.
Yoni Mernick: “Who’s the toughest player you ever had to guard?”
Shaquille O’Neal: “Hakeem Olajuwon.”
Mernick: “Favorite dunk of your career?”
O’Neal: “Dunking on David Robinson in San Antonio.”
Mernick: “Which nickname best represents you? Diesel, Superman, or The Big Aristotle?”
O’Neal: “Big Aristotle.”
Mernick: “Better feeling, a championship or a sold-out DJ set?”
O’Neal: “It’s the same.”
Mernick: “What’s harder? Winning a championship or building a successful company?”
O’Neal: “Winning a championship.”
Mernick: “You’re the GOAT athlete investor. What’s the best return on any investment?”
O’Neal: “I’m not allowed to tell you.”
Mernick: “One piece of advice for aspiring athlete investors.”
O’Neal: “Save your money. Don’t buy a hundred cars like me.”
Mernick: “Who’s on your rapper Mount Rushmore?”
O’Neal: “I don’t want to say because I love all the rappers, and sometimes if you don’t edit it right, it makes it look like you’re trying to start a little trouble. So, all of them.”
Mernick: “One DJ you’d love to collab with?”
O’Neal: “Skrillex.”
Mernick: “50 years from now when people hear the name Shaquille O’Neal, what do you want them to think?”
O’Neal: “Male or female?”
Mernick: “Let’s do both.”
O’Neal: “All right, female. Damn, that motherf***er was beautiful. Male, I wish to be similar to him.”
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That was classic O’Neal at the end there. The 54-year-old will be remembered fondly long after he and all of us are gone.
Getting back to the top now, it’s not a surprise that O’Neal named Hakeem Olajuwon the toughest player he ever had to guard. Olajuwon is among a select group of players whom he has always shown a lot of respect.
O’Neal faced Olajuwon in his first-ever NBA Finals in 1995, and it didn’t go according to plan. His Orlando Magic were favored going into that series, but were completely outplayed.
With Olajuwon, who averaged 32.8 points per game, leading the way, the Houston Rockets stunningly swept O’Neal’s Magic in the Finals. That made it back-to-back titles for “The Dream” and solidified his status as one of the greatest players of all time.
O’Neal believes Olajuwon was the greatest center of the 1990s, even greater than him. He called him the only player he couldn’t figure out or intimidate.
David Robinson was another great center of that era, and O’Neal chose his poster dunk on him in the 1996 All-Star Game in San Antonio as his favorite. Robinson was, of course, the San Antonio Spurs‘ biggest superstar at the time, and these two weren’t on the best of terms those days. So, throwing it down on him in his house would have felt great.
O’Neal also chose “The Big Aristotle” as his favorite nickname, and he actually came up with it himself. He did that a lot during his 19-year NBA career.
O’Neal won four championships during his time in the NBA and believes winning one is harder than building a successful company. Considering he has built quite a business empire by now, the answer perhaps isn’t surprising.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, O’Neal’s net worth is $500 million today. You’d expect him to become a billionaire someday. O’Neal might not be the GOAT athlete investor, but he sure is an excellent one.
