In a 2015 interview with journalist Graham Basinger, Shaquille O’Neal peeled back the curtain on a side of his story you don’t see in highlight reels. Not the dunks. Not the trophies. The moment he found out he was $80,000 in the hole—before he’d even played a single NBA game.
“I spend it in one day,” he said, referring to the $1 million endorsement deal he landed before the draft. The spending spree started with a black Mercedes—$150,000, no questions asked. “No negotiations,” he said. “Guy could have told me $200,000 and I would’ve bought it.”
Then came one for his dad. Then one for his mom. Suits, jewelry, electronics, a sound system with a beeper-connected alarm. “A couple days later, I got a call from the bank,” Shaq said. The manager, a family friend, asked if he could read a bank statement. “I was 80,000 in the hole,” Shaq admitted. “And I was real embarrassed.”
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But that call changed everything. “Son,” the banker told him, “I watched you play here in high school. You’re bright. I don’t want you to be like all these other athletes.”
That stuck.
Shaq started meeting with financial advisors—but many raised red flags. “I can remember an old-timer saying, ‘It was too good to be true. Don’t do it,'” Shaq recalled. That voice in his head helped him dodge flashy promises and zero in on the right person.
He was young, rich, and honest about one simple truth: nobody had taught him how money really worked. He didn’t understand things like FICA or taxes—he thought that million-dollar check was exactly that. And like a lot of people in their early 20s, he learned by making expensive mistakes.
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Then came the man who changed his life: “One little, small, beautiful Jewish man” who told him, simply, “I’m into savings bonds. We’re gonna start a subchapter S corporation for your family.” Shaq’s response? “Shalom, I’m going with you, sir.”
That advisor, Lester Knispel, became like a second father. And when Shaq started slipping into old habits—like the time he tried to outdo Mike Tyson at a Rolls-Royce dealership and dropped $600,000—Lester was the one who reeled him back in.
It worked. Big time.
Shaq learned. Not just how to protect his money, but how to grow it. He became an early investor in Google, took a stake in Ring before Amazon scooped it up for $1 billion, and quietly built an empire. He owns dozens of franchises—from fast food to fitness—and has parlayed his brand into everything from TV to tech.
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“People always talk about athletes going broke,” he once said. “I made sure I wouldn’t be one of them.”
These days, Shaq isn’t just spending smart—he’s sharing the playbook. He regularly offers advice to young athletes and everyday folks alike, stressing basics like living below your means, getting help from professionals, and avoiding credit card debt. “It’s not about how much you make,” he told CNBC. “It’s about how much you keep.”
Whether it’s tipping big, buying strangers appliances at Walmart, or just telling fans to “invest in what you know,” Shaq isn’t just generous with his money—he’s generous with his lessons.
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