Shaquille O’Neal decided to spend a huge amount of money on his parents as soon as he made it into the NBA. As all NBA fans should be aware, Shaq is one of the most successful and well-known athletes in the world. Through his incredible play and larger-than-life personality, he has managed to amass an incredible net worth of $400 million as of 2023.
Although Shaq has earnt a lot of money throughout his life, he hasn’t forgotten to reward the people responsible for raising him. Specifically his mother and stepfather. Since we know O’Neal to be a very generous individual, one might wonder how he decided to repay his parents after getting his first salary from playing in the NBA. Let us take a closer look and find out what he did.
How much money did Shaquille O’Neal give his parents?
The NBA has grown incredibly over the years and is able to give its star players hefty contracts in order to ensure their satisfaction and loyalty to the team. Shaq came into the league in the 1992 NBA Draft as the first pick in the entire draft. He was already seen as a transcendental talent and was instantly drafted by the Orlando Magic.
Since the Magic knew how valuable Shaq was, they gave him a $3 million contract during his rookie year. That was the most amount of money that O’Neal had seen and been given access to at that point in his life. Despite making questionable purchases instantly, Shaq also had the foresight and thoughtfulness to reward the people responsible for making him into the man he was.
His mother and father were the first on his mind. Therefore, O’Neal decided to reward them fittingly. His stepfather initially had an annual salary of $60,000. Shaq decided to multiply this eightfold and assured him a salary of around half a million dollars.
O’Neal went one step further when it came to his mother Lucille and ended up giving her a salary of $750,000. He emotionally revealed how this entire process of giving back to his parents felt for him, “I put my mom on salary and put my dad on salary. And you know, we had a fan club. I got ’em an office and got ’em a car and they were so proud. Cause the best day of my life was when I got drafted.”
Although Shaq had no problem parting with a large amount of money and sharing it with his parents, he still insisted that they develop their business skills in order to put their newfound resources to good use. That speaks to the value of education and finances that O’Neal held high.
