Other than Michael Jordan, there is no other retired NBA player, as famous as Shaquille O’Neal. Even ten years after his basketball career ended, Shaq remains in the public eye through TV appearances, commercials, music, and various business ventures. His larger-than-life personality goes hand in hand with his enormous stature and that’s why Shaq became one of the most popular athletes in the history of sports, even though you probably know a lot about Shaq already. Here are 10 lesser-known facts about the four-time NBA champion and one of the most dominant players who ever played.
1. Shaq in law enforcement
Shaq always had huge respect for law enforcement. Two of his uncles were police officers and has always been a dream of his to suit up in a police uniform. It just happened to be that he grew up a 7-footer who could suit up in various NBA jerseys instead, but after he was done playing, he revived his interest in joining law enforcement. He became a deputy sheriff in Georgia and Florida because he spends most of his time in Atlanta working for TNT in Orlando, where he resides in a 70,000-square feet mansion he’s publicly said he plans to run for sheriff in either County once his TNT career is over. But if you want to take a look at Shaq and a police uniform before then just turn on grown-ups where O’Neal plays a police officer alongside Adam Sandler.
2. Shaq’s biological father abandoned him
Shaq’s song Biological Didn’t Bother on his second album was an oath to sergeant Phillip Harrison who raised Shaq and who Shaq called his father. Based on CL Smooth verse One Troy Biological Didn’t Bother was also sort of a diss track to his real dad and a way for young Shaquille to express his feelings. James Toney, Shaq’s, real dad was convicted of drug addiction problems and was sentenced to jail when Shaq was an infant. Once he got out, Tony elected not to reconnect with Shaq and the NBA legend never met his father until he was 44.
They finally reconciled in 2016 and met in a restaurant Shaq off in Eden, which coincidentally happened to be below Tony’s apartment, O’Neal forgave his dad and said that he doesn’t judge them, even though they don’t see each other that often Shaq and his biological father now speak on the phone from time to time and Tony has also met his grandchildren.
3. Has a Business Empire
Along with Jordan, Magic, and now LeBron, Shaq is the wealthiest NBA player ever with 286 million dollars. He is the fourth all-time earner in salary, but that’s just a fraction of what he’s earned off the court. Shak describes himself as a master marketer and he’s never seen a commercial he didn’t like. Shaq endorses so many products that it would almost be easier to list the ones he is not involved with. Apart from marketing endeavors Shaq’s curious mind and tech-savviness made him an extremely successful investor as well. He has been an early investor in Google, Apple, eSports, as well as some food chains like Krispy Kreme, and Papa John’s.
Then there is his career in entertainment and show business where Shaq did almost everything a person can do from talking basketball, with Ernie Kenny and Chuck to acting rapping DJing, and producing. He also drove undercover Lyft, orchestrated a classical concert, and boxed five rounds with Oscar De La Hoya. Big diesel is also an owner of many business ventures. He owns several hundred restaurants, gyms car washes, and other franchises, including minority ownership of Sacramento Kings, despite famously calling them Queens and his playing days by saving and investing 75 % of his income. Shaq is now earning more than he ever did as a player.
4. Shaq spent his first million in under an hour.
Shaq’s family didn’t have a lot of money when he was growing up, but that changed when O’Neal was drafted number one overall. In 1992, Shaq’s rookie salary was three million dollars before taxes and Shaq managed to spend nearly half within 24 hours. Of his first check from the magic as soon as the money landed on his account, Shaq went to a Mercedes dealership and bought a $ 150,000 black Mercedes with some big rims. On that thing, when he got home, his father asked him: okay, but where’s mine, so Shaq and Sarge Harrison drove their Mercedes back to the dealership and came back with two of a kind after another call for his mom, some clothes, electronics, and gifts. Shaq was $ 80,000 in debt after a call from the bank explaining that he had spent almost half of his rookie salary in one day, Shaq sobered up and started taking his finances seriously.
5. Shaq was recruited by LSU at age 13 when mistaken for a soldier.
If you see someone who was six foot eight and wearing size, 17 sneakers, it’s hard to imagine that they are only 13 years of age. However, that’s precisely what happened in Shaq’s case, who was mistaken for an army recruit by Dale Brown. Brown was a basketball coach for LSU. He coached it for 25 years he was putting on a coaching clinic and billed Fleck in West Germany, where the 13-year-old shack lived at the time because his father was Army stationed there to a size, Brown assumed O’Neal was already in college and Shaq had to Explain that he’s only 13, “you are 13, Take me to your father immediately” Dale Brown said after he spoke to Shaq’s family. He offered him a scholarship on the spot. Five years after Shaq became a tiger, he would spend three years playing for Coach Brown.
6. Shaq has a platinum rap album
Many basketball players wanted to become rap stars in the 90s. Many have tried, but few have been successful ever since the album flunked and was cited to be exceedingly profanity-filled. Chris Webber doesn’t like to remember his song gangsta, gangsta and Kobe dabbled in rap as well. I want to realize he better quit before he jeopardizes his marketing appeal. Shaq didn’t have such problems and he’s considered to be the best NBA rapper of all time. His first album Shaq diesel went platinum and sold over a million copies. What’s up doc Fouch Nickens is considered to be the best song with Shaq diesel as well. As I know, I got skills that reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next album Shaq food, the return, went gold and further established Shaq’s relevance in the rap game and even though he sold over 2 million records with his four albums, he earned less than $ 100,000 from him, which is proof of how Studios can exploit young artists.
7. Shaq made just one three-pointer in his career
Steph Curry is Shaq’s favorite current NBA player for the fact that he is fearless despite a small stature and because he’s the best shooter in history, the only basketball skills Shaq never possessed. The big fella was a notoriously bad free throw. Shooter with just a 52 percent success rate from the line O'Neal only hit 1/3 in his career, which was a half-court heave in his final season in Orlando Shaq, is just 1 for 22 behind the arc for his career.
8. The NBA had to change the rules for bad boards because of him
There was a two-man conversation when the topic of the most dominant NBA, the big man comes around some people believe that’s Wilt Chamberlain and others say it’s Shaq. I lean towards Shaq in that discussion simply because he attacked the rim like he has some kind of personal vendetta towards it. Wilt liked to use finger rolls and hook shots and didn’t use his strength as much as he could which we talked about in our article on him.
In Kobe’s words, “Shaq had a lot of dog in him and was vicious on the court when he since he’s better than somebody, wanted to humiliate and abused that player and would often dump people to the ground”, and this kind of brute force was too much For NBA backward, which were constructed for tall heavy man, leaning onto them, but nobody tested their endurance as Shaq did after he broke his second backboard in his rookie year, NBA was forced to enhance the Rams and the stanchions that supported them just for Shaq and his Shaq attack and if you’re wondering how many rims did he break during his entire career, the answer is 19 and the evidence lies in his backyard, where Shaq has a tree of broken backboards, it’s his unofficial trophy as the most dominant Man who ever played.
9. Shaq has a doctoral degree.
Shaq goes by many names. In Orlando he was Superman. As a rapper, he became Shaq diesel and Shaq foo and Lala. He wanted to be called the big Aristotle, followed by the big cactus when he played in the deserts of Arizona and then the big shamrock when he wore the Celtics green. There were many others as well, but nothing pleases, Shaq more than people calling him Dr. O’Neill. Shaq received his doctorate from Barry University in Miami in 2012 when he finished their organization of learning and leadership program, mostly through online classes. His doctoral dissertation focused on how CEOs and business leaders use humor in the workplace, which is a topic very close to Shaq, an owner of many businesses. That also happens to be the biggest kid in the world.
10. Shaq recruited Penny Hardaway while filming blue chips.
Blue chips are one of the best basketball movies ever it stars, three-time Oscar nominee, Nick Nolte, as a college, basketball coach who tried to recruit some blue-chip prospects for a struggling team, Shaq starred as Neon Bordeaux and Penny Hardaway was butch McRae and the movie featured a dozen prominent basketball figures such as Larry Bird, Kevin Garnett, Bob Cousy, and others, blue chips are highly regarded for its basketball scenes, and it was because the producers wanted to cast real ball players. After Shaq became the first pick of the draft in the NBA. He became the first pick to play neon in the movie. He said yes and it was on the set of the film. He met, Penny Hardaway, who was a player for the University of Memphis and preparing to go in the next year’s draft.
O’Neal first thought: penny was an actor but soon realized that’s not the case, impressed by Penny’s skills. The two became friends and Shaq lobbied for Orlando’s management to draft Hardaway in the 93 drafts. His wish was granted and magic traded for Hardaway on draft night and the duo went to the 95 NBA Finals together.