In 1992, Shaquille O’Neal was only about a year removed from his days at LSU and had already become one of the biggest names in basketball, playing as a rookie for the Orlando Magic.
But the 20-year-old was also a novice when it came to investing, and as he tells Business Insider, it was in his first NBA year that he made an alarming financial mistake; one that saw him spend $1 million in a day and left him about $60,000 in the hole.
“It was me being overly happy-slash-irresponsible” the retired center says in the new video interview.
He’d just signed an endorsement deal with a trading card company and his agent called him to let him know he had netted about $1 million. O’Neal immediately went out and bought, among other things, three new Mercedes-Benz cars: One for him, one for his father and one for his mother. He had spent the entire $1 million, but there were a few expenses he didn’t account for.
“I didn’t subtract his 15%, right?,” O’Neal says of his agent’s cut. “I didn’t subtract the Texas state tax or the FICA. So, in my mind, I was just trying to do the simple math.”
Eventually, his bank manager advised him that he was actually in the hole.
“So after that, I said, ‘You know what? I need to get me a business manager,’ he says.
Today, O’Neal’s business portfolio includes successful plays in restaurants, fitness, tech and real estate, among other things.
“Luckily, I had a lot of hard lessons early, but I’m the type of guy that—I don’t like to miss two shots in a row, even if it’s a free throw,” O’Neal says in the interview.
