Despite having $400 million to his name, Shaquille O’Neal once hilariously couldn’t pay for donuts and soda

Despite having $400 million to his name, Shaquille O’Neal once hilariously couldn't pay for donuts and soda

Shaquille O’Neal is a generous person when it comes to helping people out, but even with all his wealth, he sometimes needs a rain check on paying for things.

Shaq goes down in NBA history as perhaps the most dominant big man to have played the game. Sure, he wasn’t the scoring machine Wilt was or had the longevity that Kareem did, but at his height, Shaq could go toe-to-toe with anyone.

He won three straight championships with the Lakers before winning another one with the Miami Heat. Throughout his career, Shaq made a habit of bullying opponents down low, using his size and mobility to impose on defenders.

In the end, his legendary career set him up well for retirement. He now works in Inside the NBA, and he’s amassed a whopping net worth of $400 million.

He holds the record for the largest Walmart purchase in history, and among other things, he’s not afraid to throw his money to other people, helping out in any which way he can.

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Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t able to pay for donuts and soda once

Shaq’s net worth is definitely based largely off his career earnings, but he expanded it much more after he retired. Like many athletes now, Shaq started to invest.

He followed a simple principle: investing in companies he believes in, and now, it’s paying off massively. Shaq owns a total of 50 brands in various industries. It’s these kinds of deals along with his TNT job that has him splurging away so much money on other people.

Once though, Shaq was caught lacking. He went to a store to buy some donuts and soda but did not have the money to buy them. He told the cashier that he’d be back to pay for it later, and they let him, but it still makes for a funny story regardless.

Shaq helped pay for a waitress’ rent

Shaq was recounting the story to Jimmy Kimmel, and while on one hand, he didn’t have money for donuts and soda, he was able to make one waitress extremely lucky.

Shaq loves giving out massive tips, so much so to the point where he asks waiters and waitresses how much they want from him. Naturally, Kimmel wanted to know what was the largest amount he had been asked for. Shaq replied $4,000, and he explained that the money helped towards paying the waitress’ rent.

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
Los Angeles Lakers NBA Shaquille O'Neal

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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