Shaquille O’Neal is known for his multiple business ventures. But before he entered the NBA, he was far from being affluent. The first big check that Shaq ever saw was an offer from Nike for $14,000,000. To many people’s surprise O’Neal turned down the cheque instead of choosing to sign with Rebook. All of this happened before ‘The Diesel’ even set foot on an NBA court. Sonny Vaccaro, the brains behind the signing of Michael Jordan is known to be a genius scout. But his one error could have been the reason, that Nike lost Shaquille to Rebook.
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Before the McDonald All-American game, no one knew much about Shaq, including Sonny Vaccaro. According to Shaq ” Noone knew who I was at the McDonalds Game”, but that didn’t deter Shaq from putting on a performance of a lifetime. Before the game, Vaccaro handed out shoes and track-suits to all the major prospects such as Mitchell Butler and Tracy Murray. But when it came time for Shaq’s chance, he was handed a ragged ugly pair of green Jordans. Later in his book Shaq talks back, O’Neal detailed the whole story, telling everyone how Vaccaro’s behavior rubbed him the wrong way, motivating him to dominate and win CO-MVP later in the McDonald All-American game.
Shaquille O’Neal tells an interesting tale of his McDonald’s All-American game
The class of ’92 was pretty stacked. But Shaq was the front-runner as the best prospect. But surprisingly to many Shaq went under most scouts Rader until his dominant performance at the Mcdonald’s game. In his book ” Shaq Talks Back,” O’Neal explained his reason behind the dominant performance. Recalling the incident O’Neal said:
“I was still relatively unknown when I showed up for the McDonald’s High School All-American game. All these big-time players were in that game, from Kenny Anderson to Jim Jackson. Sonny Vaccaro, who was working with Nike at the time, was passing out nice gear to all of them. Brand-new shoes and sweats. I’m just this dude from Texas who he hadn’t heard of. I don’t get anything. Mitchell Butler, Tracy Murray, these guys are getting all the hype, getting Nike jackets, the red-and-black Jordans. Sonny finally gives in. He gives me a pair of raggedy green Nikes.”
Shaq would take ‘disrespect’ to Vaccaro’s actions leading to him approaching ESPN announcer Dick Vitale, telling him “Mr. Vitale, remember this name: Shaquille O’Neal.”
Recalling what happened next Shaq said: “So at the game the next day, I just took off. In the opening minutes, I blocked a shot by Conrad McRae on one end and started dribbling downcourt. I kept dribbling and dribbling and took off just inside the free-throw line, dunking hard over about three dudes. Vitale went crazy. “Did you see that?!!! Are you serious!!! Dale Brown, you got a Diaper Dandy, baby! Welcome to LSU, Shaquille O’Neal!”
Shaq went on to win CO-MVP alongside Bobby Hurley in those very raggedy green shoes that Sonny Vaccaro had given him. This incident to many is the reason why Shaq moved away from Nike even though the Lakers legend did take a meeting with the company, choosing to sign with Rebook instead.
An incident with an angry mom led to Shaq dropping out of a $40 Million deal with Reebok
Shaq’s contract with Rebook worth $40 million didn’t last too long either. A lot of it had to do with just one angry mom. Recalling the incident O’Neal said ” I’m leaving the arena one day and this lady is ripping me a new one,” O’Neal said on the Full Send Podcast. “‘You m***********, you’re charging these babies all this money for the shoes.’ I had like $2,000 in my pocket and I was like, ‘Ma’am. I don’t make the prices. Here you go.'”
The woman proceeded to slap the money out of Shaq’s hand, continuing to lecture the big man on being responsible for his impact on kids. This incident made Shaq rethink his deal with Rebook, later opting out of it and signing with Walmart to make affordable basketball shoes.
