“Had to Borrow Some Money”: 9 Months After Revealing He Gave His Dad a $500,000 Salary, Shaquille O’Neal Reveals Why He ‘Put On a Show’ During Games

Shaquille O’Neal has been a maverick both on, and off the court. Even after retirement, he has been relevant to the NBA as an analyst, is a philanthropist, and has a range of talents. One of them is his humor, and the ability to bring joy to people. During his recent interview on NBA Rewind with Ahmad Rashid, Shaq claimed that a piece of advice from his father meant that he was always looking to put on a show for the fans.

Shaq belonged to a poor family which meant that his father, Phillip Harrison, once had to borrow money in order to watch a couple of games with him. Shaq eventually struck his fortune and even gave his father a $500,000 cheque in order for him to stop working. Regardless,  After the matches did not turn out to be great, he told his son to always “put on a show for people” if he ever made it to the NBA. O’Neal obviously eventually did and claimed this to be the reason why he was always having fun while playing. 

Shaquille O’Neal claims the dance-off with LeBron James was for the “kids’ entertainment”

O’Neal’s father wanted him to always put on a show for the people who paid money to watch him. This advice was sternly followed by Shaq, who always seemed to be having fun on the court.

O’Neal talked about his 2007 dance-off before the All-Star game against LeBron James, claiming that it was to “entertain the kids.” He talked about how his father had been left disappointed with a few games he had borrowed money to watch:

“This is my dance contest with LeBron. You see, I took the headband off and pulled it, a little bit. I know the kids and everybody else is there, I just want them to have fun. A couple of times going to games with my father, he had to borrow some money and it wasn’t a good game, and he was very upset. He said, “Son, if you ever make it to this level, with all these people paying to watch you play, you make sure you put on a good show, so I always make sure I put on a good show for the people. I always want to put on a show, for the people.”

This led to the glorious advice that Shaq should always be looking to entertain the public when he was playing. That aspect of Shaq’s personality has obviously traveled past his playing days. O’Neal is still a hilarious entertainer, which all seems to be down to a piece of advice from his late stepfather.

O’Neal once bought a washer and a dryer for a random family at a shopping mall

O’Neal’s tales of kindness are well-known. He is a noted philanthropist, has multiple charitable organizations, and is regularly involved in a range of initiatives.

Recently, he came across a family at Home Depot that was looking to buy a few household appliances. Ever so generous, Shaq ended up making the purchase for the family on his own.

The heartwarming incident is just one of the number of instances where O’Neal randomly showed kindness towards strangers. That, in part, is also down to the kind of childhood that he had under the tutelage of Phillip Harrison.