Shaquille O’Neal off to Türkiye. Nothing extraordinary at face value. But what if there’s almost half a billion dollars involved in his trip? The Big Aristotle, who walked away from $40 million to make affordable sneakers, now inked a deal worth 12 times that. All to further his campaign to spread smiles. Who would’ve thought Big Diesel’s real entry into Türkiye would not be for an on-court comeback!

According to a recent report, confirmed by Shaq’s friend and entourage member, Derrick Mallet resharing the post Shaquille O’Neal has signed a $480 million deal to bring his affordable Dunkman shoes to the country over 5,000 miles away.

Türkiye has a population of about 86 million as of 2024. And 25% of it are kids between 0 to 17 years old. These kids are going to experience the ‘Shaq-a-Claus’ brand of happiness when Shaq Footwear drops here. It’s unclear which retailer O’Neal has signed this deal with, who the distributors are, and when and where the shoes will be available, among other details right now. O’Neal, though, has plans to spearhead his new foreign venture himself.

‘Hot Freestyle’ also reported, “SHAQ signs $480 million deal to bring his affordable Dunkman shoes to Turkey with a promotional tour in the works.” O’Neal frequents Abu Dhabi, Croatia, and more countries across the pond for a wide variety of business. So a promotional tour isn’t very surprising. It’s the reason he’s heading there. Especially when his old connection to Türkiye was a bit of a shocker.

One decision led to Shaquille O’Neal’s Turkish deal

Shaquille O’Neal started in the sneaker business as Reebok’s first signature athlete. He had bestsellers like Shaq Attaq and Shaqnosis when he was up for a contract renewal worth $40 million. However, an angry mom accosted him on the street for the price of Reebok shoes. That became O’Neal’s turning point.

He walked away from Reebok to start a line of affordable sneakers. While a Shaq Attaq could set you back $160, O’Neal’s high-quality sneakers are sold in Walmart and Lowe’s for about $40 or less. You’d think walking away from 8 figures is a mistake. But O’Neal sold 400 million pairs of his shoes during the prime of his career while winning four championships.

He was not a signature athlete under any brand but his own in 2010, when he was not having his best time in a Celtics jersey. Plagued with injuries and limited game time, rumors abounded that O’Neal would head overseas to finish out his pro career. Rumor has it that Beşiktaş from the Turkish league was interested in signing the Big Shamrock, while another Reebok star, Allen Iverson, was also there. Despite this rumor creating the excitement to finally see Shaq and AI team up, it never manifested. Both would retire from playing in 2011.

They’d team up in 2023 as the president and vice president of Reebok basketball. The duo is reviving the brand in different ways, but O’Neal hasn’t given up his original dream. The ‘Dunkman’ logo Reebok created for him also features on his affordable shoe line. Just this May, he distributed his SHAQ brand shoes to 2,000 underprivileged kids.

Now he’s really coming to Türkiye with a truckload of shoes. It’s not going to be through Reebok. Details about how Shaquille O’Neal’s shoes will retail overseas will hopefully be revealed soon.