Shaquille O’Neal made $250 million in salary alone during his time in the NBA. He used that as a platform to launch a business empire that is now worth well over $400 million. But just because his contracts added up to $250 million, doesn’t mean he got all of that.
Shaquille O’Neal signed his first big deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, worth $120 million over seven years. And he got paid over $20 million in salary for the first time in the 2001-02 season. But thanks to taxes, he only got a check worth half of that and he revealed how he spent it.
“If you do a $100 million contract, you ain’t getting $100 million,” Shaq said on Drink Champs. “But you spend like you got $100 million. And that be the problem. My first check was $20 million, what I got was $10,900,000. Yeah, FICA, States, all the taxes, right? But I didn’t realize that, I went and got a house for $5 million.
“I like to spend money, I don’t like to waste money. I don’t wanna spend $400,000 for a car. So I’m like, ‘Hey man how much is this? Nah. How much is this one?’ So finally the old guy says, ‘Yo man, you asked about all these cars, can you afford them?’ Now I’m pissed. I said, ‘What the f**k you just said to me?’ So I buy three.
“That one, that one, and that one, and I want them dropped off. Move the seat back. So I got 3 Rolls-Royces that I never drive. So there goes another million. So I spent that $10 million in three months, the whole summer. And then my guy called me and said, ‘You know you spent your whole check?’”
Only Shaquille O’Neal can get away with being like this, thankfully, he also had massive endorsement deals on the side that likely meant he didn’t have to worry about money. And by this point in his career, O’Neal had already made over $100 million, so he was fine. It’s still a crazy amount to spend that fast though.
Shaquille O’Neal Got Advice From His Mother About The Way He Was Spending His Money
Shaq’s father played a big role in keeping him humble, always giving him the perspective of people that were struggling to keep him grounded. His mother was also not far behind, especially when it came to him buying Rolls Royce cars. He spoke about the time his mom, Lucille, checked him for flexing his car on Instagram.
“I’ll tell you a true story. I bought a Rolls Royce and I’m flexing on Instagram. My mother was pissed. She said, ‘Baby, we know you’re successful. You don’t have to throw it at people’s faces.”
Shaquille O’Neal has built the kind of empire 99.9% of humans can only dream of. He has made his money work for him and become part of the elite. But he made mistakes along the way, but he learned a lot from all of them.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
