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Millionaire Shaquille O’Neal Destroyed Teammate for Driving a “Beat Up Toyota Van” and Immediately Took Him Car Shopping

Published 06/03/2022, 1:30 PM EDT

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NBA Legend Shaquille O’Neal is known to be a very generous guy. He is always being spotted giving back to people, giving huge tips to waiters, and buying gifts for everyone. And he was like that during his playing days too, as he once put in a down payment for one of his teammates who was driving a Toyota.

Mark Madsen is a former NBA player and coach who is known for playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was drafted in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Lakers and he won two championships with them.

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He was known to be a spot-up three-point shooter and was also loved by the crowd for his victory dances. But when he was with the Lakers, he drove a Toyota Van, which was beat up. And when Shaq saw this, it infuriated him.

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Shaquille O’Neal put a down payment for Madsen’s new car

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When Shaq saw the Toyota in the Staples Center parking lot, he was not happy. He came into the locker room and asked whose was it. Madsen explained how it went and he said, “He came in the locker room one day and said,- who in the world is driving that Toyota Astro van? I raised my hand and said Shaq, it’s me. He said you are not rolling into Staples Center driving that beat-up Toyota van. So he took me car shopping.”

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So Shaq took Madsen to a dealership, and he went straight up to the manager and explained who Madsen was. He also put a down payment on the car in the number of $5000 and Madsen said he would put in the payments as he was getting paid.

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Car dealerships were used to Shaq just buying cars as he was at the height of his career. He was the league MVP and was arguably the best player in the world. He just signed a huge contract. But this time, it was for his rookie who barely anybody knew. And Shaq took him under his wing and got him the best deal possible. Stories of Shaq’s generosity are very common, but what he did for Madsen was unprecedented and unheard of before.

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Written by:

Vishwesha Kumar

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Vishwesha Kumar is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Holder of a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, Vishwesha has been writing content for about 3 years now. He has been following the NBA for nearly 10 years, since first starting off in the year 2012.
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Edited by:

Arunaditya Aima