"I know I'm not broke" - Shaquille O'Neal once spent $70,000 at Walmart
Shaquille O'Neal is arguably the most dominant big man in NBA history. Over the years, he has become a popular celebrity across America with his work off the court including his Hollywood and DJ career.
O'Neal is also a prominent talk show personality and businessman with a staggering net worth of $400,000,000 and is often featured in the news when he is out splashing money on cars and houses.
This time though, O'Neal is on the news for a completely bizarre reason; he spent a whopping $70,000 at Walmart in 2008. Even worse, when attempting to pay for this Walmart Trip, his credit card got declined as his bank thought that the card was stolen.
Shaq talked about this incident on The Late Show with James Corden, saying:
"I have the biggest purchase in Walmart history, $70,000. I get traded from Miami to Phoenix, and I'm the type of guy [that] I have no patience. So when I get to Phoenix, they have an apartment for me. Nothing's in it...At the end, it was $70,000, so I put my credit card in. Got declined. And I put it back in, [it] said declined again. So now I'm saying, 'I know I'm not broke."
After the payment got declined, O'Neal was left questioning if he is broke or not. He soon got a call from American Express expressing that his credit card has been stolen. However, the former player notified them that it was indeed him attempting to make a purchase.
It is hard to believe O'Neal's Walmart bill came out to $70,000 when buying TVs, laptops, printers, towels, clothes, and much more.
Shaquille O'Neal rejected a $40 million sneaker deal with Reebok and instead sold ‘Over 400 million pairs’ of Walmart
When O'Neal appeared on the Full Send podcast, he claimed that he walked away from a massive $40 million dollar deal with Rebook. Even for Shaq, this is not a small sum of money.
O'Neal played in Reebok shoes for most of his career. His two most recognizable shoes were the Shaq Attaq and the Shaqnosis. However, when he was once confronted by a woman for selling his Rebook shoes at a price that many of his younger fans could not afford, it was enough for him to walk away from the Reebok deal.
Here is what he said:
“That day, I cut ties with Reebok. I said keep the money… this ain’t right. I’ll still wear the shoes I do during the season, but I’ll be looking to do my own thing.
Shaquille O'Neal seemed to have a realization and wanted to forge his own path. He further talked about what he did next:
"So, I started the Shaq brand. I went to my favorite store, Walmart, and we did a deal. I was in all stores and my price point for the shoes was $29-$19 and since then we sold over 400 million pairs. It’s not kids that don’t want to wear $20 shoes, they don’t want to wear shoes that look like they cost $20.”
O'Neal's venture to sell affordable shoes shows the sort of person he is. He found a way to make money while allowing young kids to be able to afford his shoes. This speaks to his character and reinforces the great man that he is.