Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most famous NBA players in the history of basketball. Not even as a basketball player but also as a sports personality and a celebrity, his reach is worldwide.

As it is expected from a man of his stature, the 7’1 legendary center is also among the top 20 richest athletes in the world. With a massive net worth of $400 million, Shaq’s bank is just as big as his structure, stature, and heart.

In his 19 years in the NBA, Shaq signed massive contracts. The first of which was in 1996 when he signed for Los Angeles Lakers. But even before that, when he got drafted for Orlando Magic in 1992, a trading card company signed Shaq on an enormous endorsement deal, making him a millionaire.

20-year-old Shaquille O’Neal was not a smart millionaire

In 1992, Shaq earned his first million dollars because of the endorsement deal with the card company. 

The 20-year-old Shaq thought about celebrating the deal as soon as he heard from his agent. He was a big fan of cars and especially Mercedes, so he straight away went to the Mercedes dealership and bought a $150,000 car. When he came home and showed his new purchase to his father, he demanded that Shaq bought the same car for him too.

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Shaq did just that. Proud O’Neal family celebrated the big success and good times ahead with two cars both worth $150,000 each. That’s not all! His mother also demanded that he should buy one for her too but one of a lesser price tag.

Shaquille O’Neal Bragged About his $400 Million Net Worth: “Who owns Elvis Presley? Who owns Forever 21? Who owns JCPenney? Me! How does Michael Jackson and all these guys live forever?”

Shaq, the loving son, bought another car this time with a price tag of $100,000. Seems crazy enough that he did all this just to make his parents happy. 

Unfortunately, Shaq did not understand ‘money’ that well at the time. He did not calculate the 15% cut of his agent, Texas state tax, and federal property taxes. 

This lack of consideration meant that he had already spent more than he had earned. This incident and the problems that must have followed made Shaq realize that he needs a business manager to stop him from doing anything like this ever again. 

Shaquille O’Neal currently is a sports analyst and features on Inside the NBA on TNT. Apart from that, he has hundreds of ventures which have helped him create an astonishing business empire. His business acumen is so huge that even after his endless works of charities and thoughtless giveaways, he is still worth $400 million!

He is now among the top 20 richest athletes in the world. But this was not the case when he first got rich, however, he learned his lesson early. Every person is what he is because of his experiences and Shaq’s example is appropriately accurate.

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