“I don’t want $900,000 to advertise the $881 billion crypto industry!”: $400 million worth Shaquille O’Neal rejected offers to promote or join in on cryptocurrency

Shaquille O’Neal, with a $400 million net worth, did not want to be offered any amount of money to advertise cryptocurrency. 

Shaquille O’Neal was told back in his LSU days that big-men don’t sell. In all fairness, the professor who gave him this advice was right. Guys like Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, and David Robinson certainly couldn’t compete with the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, and more when it came to marketability. 

Instead of feeling offended by this, Shaq took the constructive criticism in stride and decided that he had something that other big guys didn’t: an extremely marketable personality stemming from his ability to make light of situations. 

Through his big smile and lighthearted nature, Shaquille O’Neal began a career of successful investments and endorsements. While he did attain $292 million in NBA career earnings, ‘The Big Aristotle’ made his bank off the court through said investments and endorsements, garnering a $400 million net worth. 

Of course, as the time change, so do investment opportunities. Shaq was approached with one that didn’t exactly pique his interest a while back.

Also read: “Role player? You were rolling through cities, Shaq!” : When Charles Barkley had no chill roasting Shaquille O’Neal on Inside the NBA

Shaquille O’Neal on deciding to stay away from the crypto industry. 

It would be assumed that of all athletes in the world, some as business savvy as Shaquille O’Neal would jump at the opportunity to enter into a new space like cryptocurrency. However, with the space having major fluctuations in its worth, the 4x champ decided it was best to stay away from it late last year. 

“I don’t understand it. So, I will probably stay away from it until I get a full understanding of what it is. I always get these companies that say, ‘We’ll give you $900,000 in crypto to send out a tweet.’ So I have to say, ‘If you’re giving me a million dollars worth of crypto, then why do you need me?’” 

Well, it seemed as though Shaq understood the crypto space quite fast as just a few months after saying this, he would indulge in the NFT space. He released his own ‘Shaq’ line of non-fungible tokens in October of 2021 by using the Ethereum layer 2 platform.

Also read: “Steve Nash and the Suns did nothing while I won a title!”: 7-footer Shaquille O’Neal went off on Nash winning an MVP over him.