Shaquille O’Neal rejected Michael Jordan’s $150 million a year path to create his own identity

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most unique talents we’ve seen in the league, and he paved his own identity in the shoe industry, even if it meant going against the norm.

The former Lakers legend is currently one of the hosts of the famous ‘Inside the NBA’ segment on ESPN where he finds new and hilarious ways to discuss and analyze the NBA.

There have been countless stories of how Shaquille O’Neal has spent egregious amounts of money at once. He holds the record for the largest purchase in Walmart history amongst other things, and so he holds a reputation for being a big spender.

Shaq’s net worth is enough to cater towards his lifestyle, but it also sometimes makes for some crazy stories. He’s built that net worth through strategic and valuable investments. He makes a great deal of money every year from his businesses, and it’s admirable to see.

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Shaquille O’Neal chose Reebok to create his own identity instead of following Michael Jordan to Nike

When you think of basketball shoes and companies, the biggest name that pops up is probably Nike. Of course, Adidas, Under Armour, and even Puma now are some of the bigger players in the game, but Nike is perhaps the most iconic and well known.

Michael Jordan became the face of Nike when he decided to sign with them, and the Jordan brand is one of the biggest shoe collaborations ever.

Jordan nets $150 million a year from Nike for the Jordan brand. Now, when Shaq was choosing his shoe line, he had the option of going with the more popular Nike or Adidas at the time, but he chose Reebok, a company that wasn’t too famous for its sports wear at the time.

However, Shaq knew that Nike already had a few guys, including Jordan, who they had built their company around, and he didn’t want that. He had a vision in his head of what he wanted, and Reebok would be giving him exactly that. He also slightly provoked Nike by wearing a Reebok jacket to the pitch meeting he had with Nike, but all’s well that ends well.

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