The then-20-year-old Shaquille O’Neal has revealed how he spent his first million in about forty-five minutes.
Shaq is now retired and is currently an analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. He was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA. O’Neal played for six teams throughout his 19-year NBA career.
“The first thing I wanted to do was relieve my parents of their jobs,” O’Neal told CNN ahead of the new 2015-2016 NBA season in Oakland, California. “I (spent) a million dollars in about 45 minutes, but it was well worth it.”
The most dominant player in the league during his prime, O’Neal would go on to make a further $291 million in NBA salary alone, according to basketball-reference.com, while earning four titles before settling into life as an studio analyst for TNT’s “Inside the NBA.”
“My momma is happy, her house is paid for; she had the car that she knows she would never get in her dreams, a Mercedes-Benz. My father (had) one, I had one. I was good,” O’Neal says, reflecting on the overnight lifestyle upgrade that affects young professionals in the world’s best paying league.
“But now you have to educate yourself on how to maintain that, and a lot of people don’t do that.”
Off the court, O’Neal was also a prolific earner as he starred in movies and released rap albums, while endorsing a bevy of products including Reebok, Burger King and Pepsi.