Shaquille O’Neal has revealed how a foul-mouthed interaction with an woman led to him abandoning a $40 million deal with Reebok.
As reported by the New York Post, 49-year-old Shaq recently appeared on the Full Send podcast, on which he decided to share his "best" business story.
Speaking about how he had been offered a $40 million deal with Reebok, the four-time NBA champion explains how he was approached by a woman who confronted the basketball star over his brand deal.
"I'm leaving the arena one day and this lady, she's ripping me a new a- 'You motherf***ers, charging these babies all this money for the shoes,'" O'Neal recalls.
"So I had like, $2000 in my pocket, and I was like, 'Ma'am, I don't make the prices, here you go' - and she smacked the money out of my hand.
Shaq then revealed that the woman responded by asking: "Why don't you motherf***ers make a shoe that's affordable?"
And despite the interaction sounding rather hostile, Shaq said that the woman was "right".
"I was like, ‘You know what, she’s right.' So that day, I cut ties with Reebok and started my own brand," he said. "I said, 'Keep the money. This ain’t right. I’ll still wear the shoes I wear during the season, but I’ll be looking to do my own thing.' So, I started the Shaq brand."
He continued: "I went to my favorite store, Walmart, and we did a deal. I was in all stores and my price point for the shoes was $29-$19 and since then we sold over 400 million pairs. [...] It’s not kids that don’t want to wear $20 shoes, they don’t want to wear shoes that look like they cost $20."
Shaq then revealed that he had worked with designers from Reebok in order to "make these kids look good and feel good".
The legendary basketball player has also recently taken to Instagram to reveal where he believes he stands when it comes to the game's greatest ever centers.
Sharing a graphic made by sporting page TBH, Shaq comes in fourth behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.
However, despite not making the top three, this didn't seem to bother Shaq, who caption the post: "I agree thanks TBH".
.jpg_cAKxFv?tr=h-184)