Shaquille O'Neal: Scared straight, spending $1m in a day and motivating Kobe Bryant | Full Interview

how much were you teased growing up because of your size a lot I had to I had to figure out two things either intimidate you or make you laugh I was always a bully until one day in fifth grade had a spit wide I threw it at the uh chalkboard and splattered this kid rats me out but prior to that my father said if you get suspended again I'm gonna kill you I'm gonna beat you like you never been beat before because you're irresponsible you know your medium level juvenile delinquent and moving at this pace you're going to be nothing in life I'm not having that in my house so I wait for the kid I mean because no first I go to the office three days so now I gotta go you're suspended for three days swim for three days so now I gotta go home I already know what I'm getting when I get home but before I go home I'm gonna whoop your ass so I'm beating this kid up and I'm kicking this kid and he has a epileptic seizure just me and the kid out there and he's on the ground shaking I'm now I'm frightened because oh so then a guy comes and he saves the kid and you know but after that my go home I get disciplined my mother poses decides that you're too big and too strong you can't ever do that again and that kind of that kind of stayed with me I was like I don't I don't want to do that anymore so then I was like you know I'm not going to beat people up let me let me go to park uh Plan B on how to get them like me because I'm I was always a Class Clown funny guy so now let me just you know do this a lot to get people like me and I just stuck with that rather than being a bully before that how would people tease you Shaquille Sasquatch big African so I stuttered when I talk big dummy and I was always shy you know I like I would look at you you know look at your test scores and you probably have a you look like a smart smart ass you'd probably have like this evening you probably have a 90 or 80. I was intimidated by that I was like I'm not that smart I can't do it I was very very shy always had self-doubts about myself and just never thought I could do it anything what changed that a geek saved my life uh junior in high school right before the state tournament I got a I got a 68. I've got one test left everybody's bullying this guy so I'm like you know what he was cool like he never said anything I never said anything to him we called him McDougall I wish I wish I could remember his name we called him and do so everybody was messing with him you know so I I came through there and I was like listen y'all mess with me Google you got to mess with me I didn't really know him so I was sitting and then he came to the lunch table was like man appreciate it I hear you having some problems in government I could help you out I was like what you want to tutor me so every day after school he tutored me and the way he tutored me I was like this really is not that bad it was kind of easy but because I had self-doubts and and felt that I wasn't smart like I didn't even look at it like I was I'll never pass anyway so he helped me out that's when I realized that that nerds and Geeks are very cool people and also taught me another valuable lesson you don't always have to judge people for who they are and what they do so now I'm a nerd and I'm a geek but anyway this guy helped me out we passed we lose in the uh State semifinals but then the next year whenever I have problems I'm like McDougall I need help an entrepreneur McDougall I need help in chemistry and he was always there for me I was talking to your mom as well yesterday Lucille a great lady and um she was talking about how growing up you know times were tough that you guys were on food stamps at times she remembers waiting in a line to get a turkey for Thanksgiving having to get charity Christmas presents to give to you and your siblings I love her sorry to cut you off I've seen her almost fist fight with a bus driver over what because you know well I don't know what the rules are now but let's just say like under five you can ride free so at five I'm a big kid so she pulls me on the bus and the guy was like hey you got to pay the extra dollar she's like no don't he's only five he's not five lady in line and John so they were going to do a fight but you know my mother was a very very strong woman if I can remember I think she put that two-piece on them but I'm not sure you know the two piece is Bing Bing yeah okay how tough were times growing up very tough yeah in what ways like like she said food stamps moving from relative to relative's house and because I was on punishment a lot I created a process that was called dreamful attraction like I used to be so upset at our circumstances that I always used to just sit there and be like when I make it I'm gonna get my grandma a big house when I make it and like for me saying when I make it now I got to go out and produce now I got to go out and you know prepare myself so instead of hanging out on the corner with the homies slinging the dime bags I'm at the court instead of going to the club following the girls I'm in the room writing my raps or DJing because like I'm like I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do it because my mother is my favorite person in the world and I've seen her times break down and cry and I was like you know what I'm the man of the house I gotta change this and my grandmother rest in peace she's the only one that believed me because again I was like yeah I was a medium level juvenile delinquent steal cars beat people up still I was just I would just do crazy stuff because I was a follower instead of a leader what made you know she believed in you because she always just tell me like whenever I used to get on punishment by my mother and father she'd come and be like baby I believe you and be like Grandma when I get rich I'm gonna get you a house I know baby I know and she give me that intimate this intimacy and I love animals enemies cheese danish rolls and some ice cream she I know baby and she was like you just need to stay out of trouble I know how much do you think that helped you a lot because she believed that you know my mother and my grandmother they're my favorite two people you were raised um you know in addition to your grandmother's involvement in your life by your mom and you're late a stepdad who I know you love dearly and I'm going to ask you about in a moment your biological father was not part of your life why was there no interest on your end in you know having a relationship with them because you know the term stepfather I don't really use I use father uh he's the guy who made me who I am I'm in a big old house because of that man I'm still relevant five years after playing because of that man I'm responsible because of that man so I thought it would be disrespectful to meet another man you know especially then uh you know he passed away a couple years you know if the time presents itself I may saying hello and say thank you but you know a lot of people think I have hard feelings I don't sometimes I don't even think about it because you know the guy that that made me who I am today I owe everything to him and him only growing up in a military household you have to be big on respect and I respect them I respect the man that walks into a city hall meets a lady the lady has a son he says so what he takes a lady and his son in and brings in his two daughters and they have a family and they raise a family I respect the man that says you know what I got three kids this Army job is not paying enough let me go do some side jobs to get some money I respect the guy that says you know what I got to get my family out of Newark the drugs are bad guys are starting to shoot and kill let's move to Georgia let's get a house let's get a laugh respect to God says you know what let's go to Germany I respect to God it says after Germany let's go to Texas and then you know I respect the guy that that works hard from Check to Check and we'll do whatever it takes I see my father borrow money to get my brothers and sisters Christmas presents best present he got me was autographed Dr J Ball Dr jail is my man and you know me and my father had a good enough relationship to where if the money was tight he pulled me to the side and be like big man I gotta take care of your sisters I'm gonna get them to Barbies in the Barbie's houses they want I'm coming up short I'll get you next time it was like cool you know as long as they were happy I'm cool so one morning everybody's out opening presents and I thought I wasn't getting a present and he opens the door let's go play some ball boom and it was Dr J Ball and then uh a couple weeks after that keep in mind I'm still still a troublemaker still juvenile delinquent a couple weeks after that he gets some Nick tickets not good tickets we're up top Dr J goes Baseline throws it down Crowd Goes Crazy that's when I said okay that's what I want to do I'm a change man from that day on no more juvenile delinquent try better in school stayed out of trouble they never had a problem out of me after that day what was it about that day because like like I knew I wanted to be a rapper I don't want to be this I don't want to be that but when Dr Jay went Baseline and the crowd went crazy I was like I want that I want people to scream my name that's what I want so from that day on I came and I'll practice every day still wasn't any good practice practice and that's also when I learned how to take criticism and turn into motivation juice like instead of playing with the kids I used to play with the men because I was their size and they always used to say you're terrible you stink you're never getting drafted you're 13 you're 16 you can't dunk sit on the side and then one day my father comes in he runs in it's a college coach I don't know who he is Dale Brown LSU he's going to be up there talking and you know my father was big on scholarships because he wouldn't be able to afford to pay for any of us to go to school he was just go maybe he'll see maybe get a scholarship like I don't want to go get your ass up let's go so dare Brown's talking and I'm way in the back way in the back because you know everybody like you know when you get up there you see all the best players on on the base in the gym and they're all they're sitting there showing off I'm like no I can't go through those guys so I'm sitting in the back so Dale's talking I'm not a lesson I have no idea what he says so after the gym starts to fade out I go up to him when I was like sir uh can you help me out on strengthening my lower extremities this is what he said I knew that word because prior to that I was on punishment and whenever I got on punishment my father made me stand on the wall like this and read a dictionary so I come upon the word extremities so I hit Coach Brown with yeah can you help me to strengthen my lower extremities and he looked yeah how long you been an Army soldier I said I'm not in the Army I'm 13. he looked like he was in the Middle East and he was out there camping and he put a stake in the ground and he had the biggest oil eruption and in history what since I'm only 13. so he kind of grabs me like like it's a secret where's your father like he's an asylum so he busting Asylum and they talk to my father and after that never saw him again but he wrote me every week every week and if email was was out I'd probably be getting the email every day like I am today but he wrote me every day speeches game footage this and that and one letter said even if you become a basketball player or not I'm going to give you a scholarship because I used to write them back like hey man I did everything you said I tried off with the team they still said I'm a bomb I didn't make it I want to give up and he'd never give up and send me speeches by Dr Martin Luther King but then by following his advice I'm starting to come around now time to come around now so by the time I get to San Antonio my junior year I'm a monster everybody in the country wants me now and now I see the light it's interesting when you were a freshman in high school I think you're cut from the varsity basketball team and just devastated um I don't believe you even try out for the varsity team your sophomore year no I'm going to try out but I meet a guy who runs a league similar to what AAU is now and we still talk now he's a big guy his name was Ford McMurtry Foreman Mercury Ford I hope you listen to his interviews want to let you know I love you uh he believed in me like he would just work with me like and he you know he to be like he was a big heavy set guy and to be big and heavy set he knew his stuff like he would like work with me every day so you know by the time I got around my sophomore year I could have made the varsity but I didn't want to be let down again so I was like I'm not going to do it well and you went from being unable to dump to your vertical leap grows two feet over the course of a year from freshman year to sophomore year and the rest is kind of History I think you lead the team your senior year to a state championship in high school basketball and after the game your coach pulls you into the bathroom stall what does he say to you well he's crying because when I came from Germany nobody knew of us like you know a lot of times if you're a great athlete and you come from a school you bring that baggage you bring you bring that footage with you but I didn't have anything I was just another skinny kid who talked a lot of trash who was a little bit arrogant nobody really believed in me so my junior year we go 35 and one uh the last game we lost I missed two crucial free throws at the end mess up a single record so I'm in the locker room crying I tell the guys so won't happen again next year so we go 36-0 I'm a high school coach not really a basketball coach you're more football baseball guys Dave Maduro like if you look at some of my high school footage he just sit there and he's not calling no play he's not doing anything he's just letting us play well he pulls me to this day and he gave me a hug and said I love you you will you will be the best big Manner and he gave me a hug and he started kissing me and I'm like I mean because he was a tough guy like he was the guy that like if you miss a free throw in a big game he'd call you in out to practice and just run you so I actually thought he was mean so like when he started hugging me and kissing like what are you doing bro put your hands off me but he was very happy very excited and very proud and we made history right before you get drafted uh you get a million dollars for an endorsement deal and I spend it in one day how'd you do it well you know when you're young you don't have a lot of business savvy it's two words you forget about FICA and sales tax so I thought I was getting one million dollars straight up but you forget about those things so really I got about maybe like six hundred thousand so I go and I go buy a hundred and fifty thousand dollar car no negotiations I don't know nothing about negotiations God could have told me 200 000 I would have bought it so I go and get a black Mercedes because that's what so I always wanted black Mercedes and some nice Wheels guys like 150. write the check and I come home my father's like that's nice where's mine I was like you know what you made me who I am jump in so we ride told a guy I want another one same one I got so they go 300 000 right there so we get home and my mom was like oh that's nice I don't want one that big I want a little one because I know I got more money coming in so I'm just like I just want to take care of this stuff now so I go get my mom one that's 500 000 right there so now I gotta get suits for the draft I got to get jewelry I got to get earrings you know I Gotta Buy I gotta buy the Alpine pull out deck so when I go to the club I got it with me I got to get the alarm that calls the Beeper and the phone so a couple days later I got a call from the bank who who was a family friend the manager of the bank and he called me and he said uh you know how to read bank statements I was like yeah I learned in the school so as I was reading it I Was 80 000 in the hole and I was looking and I was real embarrassed he was like I know you got more money coming in I'm gonna just put this to the side for you then he touched my hand he said Son I watched you play here in high school you're brag you're a smart young man I don't want you to be like all these other athletes like I heard like I always hear that term all my life and I want you to be like all these other athletes so I said you know what I got to get a financial advisor so I met with a whole bunch of guys and uh you know a lot of guys were coming in and I can remember Old Timer saying it was too good to be true don't do it so a lot of guys came in yeah uh they say you're gonna get 40 million on your first contract you give me the 40 million I could turn into 200 million by the time you're 23 I was like I don't like this guy another guy say the same thing and then I met one little small beautiful Jewish man who says I'm in the savings bonds you know we're gonna put your money and you know we're gonna start a sub chapter S corporation from your family so you know all the stuff that you're doing you can write it off I was like you know what Shalom I'm going with you sir and uh his name was less than this one I've been with him and you know he's like a father to me like every now and then you know I'll get cute like one time uh me and Tyson was in the uh Rolls Royce dealership and Tyson bought three and I wasn't going to buy three but I wasn't gonna let him out do me so I bought two 600 000 going down the drain hey I had it but unless they called me like hey gotta stop this so uh he's been good to me you know it was right the uh a right choice to make uh did you really I mean speaking of excess which you know I think when you were younger and playing in the NBA you had probably a little more fun with that stuff do you really want to have a fish tank in your Mercedes speakers yes I do have your bodyguard replaced with the fish that died because you know we always used to have competitions on the team or you could have the best car best looking car a lot of those cars I was like let me get a clear box with some fish in it so we leave the house at 10 30. we buy two goldfish we put them in there we jamming all the way to practice by the time we get to practice the fish are in the bowl I go didn't work it didn't work as as I would have liked it to Kobe Bryant we first started communicating after I taped the episode with Kobe a couple years back and you wrote in your book about him that he was just special he was different from everyone else from day one he uh how so he had a he had an aura about him that I've never seen an 18 year old the aura was kind of either these kids really cocky or he he believes in it and you saw his consistency of how he did it so I knew one day that he's going to be whatever he sets out to be and uh you know just the only thing that was that I had to had to figure out a way to how to get him to perform at a high level and I realized that we were the same people don't like criticism turned into motivation so you know being a leader you have to you have to find out certain ways to get your employees to perform at a higher level not everybody responds to this oh come on like some guys you gotta and he was a guy that I knew that if I talk smack he gonna come on until school 50. I think it worked perfectly and you know if you look at if you look at all the groups that had alpha males in them they all had problems Beatles it happens you know and I think it's a big myth you know people think you have to be lovey-dovey to win championships and I just felt sometimes you know his way and he always a fabulous player just felt you know sometimes that he didn't do it the right way and I know he felt sometimes and I didn't work hard or whatever but again it all worked three out of four we are we will be the most talked about the most enigmatic the most controversial Duo the best one-two punch in the history of the game and what we did and what I created with the back and forth and always we talked about I haven't I haven't seen and spoken to him in 11 years and now you asked me about Kobe Bryant so my plan worked well I don't think people questioned whether or not it worked obviously winning three consecutive championships it worked very well I think there are people that just wish they could have you guys could have stayed together for longer because they wonder how much better it could have even been than having you know I've learned about that all the time but you do yeah I think about all the time but I learned living in Orlando that business overtakes everything doesn't matter how you feel doesn't matter how they feel so I learned in Orlando that uh you know when players unto me were were getting offer big money and I went into office and tried to get the big money and I was like nah that's okay that's not that's not pay Shack 30 million while he's going into his late 30s let's bring it down but my point of view was not I'm just we just one three out of four I'm just getting started I at least got one or two more championships into me my money's not going to go down so you can't bring me from 30 to 20. not with five kids right no way I'm not going down I'm doing a championship so they said we will entertain Shaq being traded and I took offense to that so I said well I want to go to Miami and that's how that all started in my interview with Kobe he told me that um had you not left when you did he probably would have left via free agency because he wanted to prove that he could win without the big man what do you think the likelihood was that he had any involvement and you know you leaving with me leaving this I don't want to say a lot but he probably told them or his agent probably said uh Shaq's still here we're gonna go and then but again you have to think about the future you can't think about a guy that's getting older you gotta think about a younger guy that's getting older and I understand business I have no problem with that but being a businessman approached me business-wise if you assault me now I'm gonna take offense to that it seemed from reading your book possibly the tenses part of your relationship with Kobe came just prior to the start of the 2003-2004 Season uh he's in the middle of the you know rape trial and the Lakers coaches call both of you in and tell both of you stop sparring in the media and then Kobe goes and does an interview and basically calls you a fat and old and out of shape and that you're milking your injury to get more time off and that's when I'm quoting or saying I'm gonna kill him right because we have the truth I'm gonna kill them but you know the key thing that was there was the respect thing was there seem to hate each other if he gets double teamed he's going to still drop it off for the LOB uh Allah game seven versus Portland if we hate each other so much how come after he crossed Scotty up how come he didn't take the shot and that was one of the kind of Pinnacle moments yeah that's one of the most historical players together if he hated me so much why after we after the the Bell after the the clock hit zero who's the first guy to jump tomorrow so the respect thing was there no again people is I'm telling you now it's a myth if you think that if you're working in a closed environment everybody gets along I guarantee you that's not the case I know for a fact it's not the case so especially when you got two alpha males that want to be in charge but the respect has to be there why do you think you guys haven't talked since you played together because we don't need to talk there's nothing to talk about you respect each other but you don't like each other listen no it's not that I don't like them I I never said anything like them you've never heard me say it in like a but this guy has a beautiful wife and two beautiful kids he's coming towards the end of his career I'm probably not in this top 50 things to do and guess what I got I got six children two in college and I got a lot of business stuff to do it you know if we had put it this way if I see him and his lovely wife and his kids in the restaurant what do you think I'm gonna do you think I'm gonna go hey uh hello Vanessa what up Cole hi babies I'm your uncle Shaq that's a or do you think I'm gonna be pour water on him in front of his family what do you think I'm gonna do you know NBA stands for nothing but actress don't don't you ever forget it don't you ever forget it and you know we we've talked we've talked 40 times after that 11 years because I wanted you to think that we didn't talk but now I'm giving up the secrets no no the last time I was out there so okay in the game I saw and we hugged what's up boom boom we had a conversation it was good hey man I'm not gonna you know this guy guy has stuff to do I have stuff to do as long as the story is told forever I'm happy with that Phil Jackson uh what was discussed in your very first meeting with him he's like listen you're doing good but no more rapping no more videos no more movie I need you to concentrate I'm like why I make a lot of money doing it why would I stop doing that so because if you listen to me didn't get MVP this year and we can win a championship I was like ah I'm I'm gonna give it a shot it actually kind of worked I think that year I was 29. played 79 games MVP by far I actually would have made history but some idiot in Atlanta I wish I could say his name because I would call him an idiot to his face he messed up history I would have been the first ever unanimous decision MVP but this idiot forgot his name Fred Hickman yeah Fred Hickman idiot gives two votes to Allen Iverson and he messes up history idiot after all the hard work I put in idiot Fred Hickman messes up history everyone knows that that year I was all for blood everyone knows because Phil gave me the blueprint on how to win the championship and again authoritative figure I checked his resume got six with the great Michael Jordan I want to add to that so yes sir whatever you tell me to do I'm gonna do what were his team meditation sessions like being from the hood I know a cannabis smells like so he had something that was the cousin of cannabis whatever the hell that means yeah so he come in and he said okay guys close your eyes so he'd be waving around we eat we're gonna look close your eyes Shaq so we're sitting there and it was sort of sort of like my dreamful attraction he would say stuff like see yourself at the parade see yourself winning the championship see yourself dominating the game see yourself hitting free throws in clutch situation we would actually do that and I was like I'm already used to this so a lot of times it was cool a couple times you get tired from hanging out the night before and you hear a guy's going but it was always it was always helpful and the thing that made it feel so good and I even do this today he does everything the same way every day it's called ritual I have certain rituals that I will not break because of that I can do the same thing every day he said something about you that I'm sure wasn't intended to be critical but there's no other way to really look at it that if you worked harder he thought you could have won 10 consecutive MVPs when when you heard that what was you know I wasn't going to win 10 consecutive MVPs because it was only one of me and they weren't going to give it to me every year uh you know a lot of people say you should work harder but then I I asked them how do you know what do you know first year average 29 who did better than me so if I'm so if Tim Duncan is averaging less to me he's not working hard is that what you're saying to me so a lot of times when people talk doesn't make sense first year 29 win championship second year average 27 we still won a championship third year average 27 again we win a championship I'm gonna do what I got to do in the words of Allen Iverson we talking about practice did I work hard in practice no never and let me tell you why the guy that that I'm playing against they're under me so to try to show that they're worthy of being an NBA player they would touch me up so it's my philosophy I'm not going to get touched up twice I'm not going to get beat up in practice then I'm not going to get beat up in the game so I'll chill and practice and I'll give you my all in the game so when they used to see that there's oh he's not working hard but I'm not I'm not gonna work hard I'm gonna go out in front of these 16 000 people then give you 28 10. I'm gonna go out and dominate I'm gonna go out hit clutch free throws when I need them that's what you pay me for you don't pay me to come in here at nine from nine to twelve and it's and it's actually a bad way to think it's actually a bad way of saying no no no player that's listened to this interview should should do what I'm when I did don't do it but I knew that if I didn't practice I knew I'd have to step up in the arena and I did most of the time so you know again you got to listen to what people say and how they say it so his statement is partly correct but that was my philosophy I'm not going to go give you three hard hours a day getting beat up and go home and get beat up and have to overdose myself on painkillers to get ready for the game so I'm gonna chill out in practice and let these guys do what they do I'll be ready in the game don't worry about it I got you to what extent do you think you made the most of your talent uh probably when I didn't have any knickknack injuries and uh you know my my goal was to just win one so I'm I'm overqualified I did it that was just my goal to win one because I think she gets so much Flag for not winning one just one-on-one so let me get two let me get three only regret I have right now is two regrets actually three missing five thousand free dose not passing up Wilt chamberlaining points and uh not not being being higher on the scoring list that's it those are my only three regrets I have no more championships than well yeah I got more champ but you know they like I'm very when it comes to basketball conversations I'm very arrogant I only want to hear my name so when they say who's the most dominant player ever I want them to say my name I don't want them to be like ah maybe we'll maybe that that's that don't fly with me I want him to say Shaq does that really bother you yeah it does because that was my Niche I wasn't going for the greatest player Niche I wasn't going for you know the best I wasn't going for that because those words are you know those words are just thrown out you know words like most dominant you're gonna earn that so we'll average 50 in one season they did yeah it was 15-17 so when I got really close to him I think I needed to average like 10 12 points my last year in Boston and I want to pass them up to when I had the career in the injury I was like damn not going to pass well so those are my only three we get explained I have no other regrets I got four ranks one I only wanted one I'm good uh Dwyane Wade you get to Miami and the two of you have lunch why was it important to you to be so open about the issues you and Kobe had coming into that situation because when you don't know a person you have to go to what you hear or what you see three ways to manipulate the mind aren't you here what you see what you read so you know he don't know me you just know that I got a problem with a guy to take shots he takes shots so I'll say Alyssa that's how it goes now but a boom but a bam butter bang and at this point I'm getting older I'm tired I don't I don't want to argue with another guy me and Penny had a little beef me and Kobe had beef maybe I am the so let me let me change this narrative right now D but a man but a b you the man it's your city I can help you win I know what I got to do you know a lot of people don't know that in the finals I was having the terrible finals I don't know what was going on but we were downloaded too so I flipped it what you gonna do D Wade I got three people on me flash Antoine Gary what you gonna do I got four people on me what the hell y'all gonna do so that that was my way of getting and then we just three game bing bing bing bing everybody responded it worked so but we we didn't have any problems because I was just tired at that point I don't wanna it's your team I don't even because it don't mean nothing it was my team in L.A and look I got traded so that don't mean nothing so you keep it young fella it's yours but he was a he he was a perfect player like if you open you know bing bing bing and then like you know we had to tell them yo man shoot you got Graham on you bro shoot Graham can't guard you I don't just shoot so like you know we had to tell him to to sometimes be aggressive and it worked it's all about the time in practice that Pat Riley throws Jason Williams out where you knew your days in Miami were numbered after that well we were having a terrible season I was hurt Pat didn't bring some of the players back we're getting killed of course it's my fault because I'm hurt whatever Jason Williams was a friend of mine who lives across the street who I helped bring in and then Pat really didn't get along so he was a couple of milliseconds late Pat had this clock you know the clock that got the four dots on it zero point so these couple of milliseconds late so Pat throws them out but me being the Peacekeeper right now we're a team you got to stick together we'll get through this past like you want to be a tough guy you get out so now you you so now you're testing me I said throw me out so he started walking towards me we're walking towards each other we didn't get to touch each other up I leave and then I realized my my days were outnumbered but what what upset me is that I could have told me don't just don't just send me to the doctor's office to get an MRI and then I get a call and I say I've been traded so if you're gonna be a businessman let's do business let's do a proper handshake business tell me to my face I'm gonna be traded charity um you know we were speaking about your upbringing earlier and obviously you guys report did not have a lot of money but there's one time your father's Philip is taking you out to get a burger and she's a homeless guy what ends up happening he's driving and he sees a homeless guy it's an Army fatigues like if you ever saw a guy in Army fatigues he's pulling over so he sees a guy he makes a UE in the Middle Street he's talking to this guy and he recognized the platoon that the guy was from man I know did you know what yeah I know him and then there so the guy was down on his luck and my father had we had like five double cheeseburgers left my father had twenty dollars and in my mind I'm like what are you doing bro I'm I'm gonna eat that later when y'all go to sleep after everybody get there I'm gonna eat what are you doing like I'm I'm like you know selfish at this point like we you finally get some change I get to I get to stop eating Army crackers and army cheese I want this my food so he gives the guy the food and he gets in the car and he slams the door and he got a little tear in his eye and he just looks and said if you ever make make like I remember these words if you ever make it big time make sure you help those innate and then on uh on uh Thanksgiving you know he would go to the barracks round up the troops and we would go we'd have blankets we have all the Army rations that that they were getting ready to throw away whatever we can spam peanut butter bread give it to the homeless people so those are three things that I do today because of what a man that made thirty thousand dollars a year taught me from a woman who was a secretary probably made twenty thousand a year they taught me that so you know a lot of people when they look at and look at me in a cherries that I do this is from the heart like sometimes when when when I see people doing Charities I could tell they're just doing it for for the moment like for example whenever it's a hurricane relief thingy thingy people who you never see do anything all of a sudden they just pop up and they're tweeting about it like I I get like I tell people all the time I do a lot of stuff seeing and unseen like it doesn't matter to me if you know that I just fed ten thousand owners that I'm doing this because this was what I was taught I'm doing it because to walk in there and see a family put a smile on their face for a day that's that's just that's just awesome to me whether it be visiting an ill child in the hospital donating money or something else what's been the singular most personally satisfying thing you've done well they all have been satisfying one time my grandmother had a had a kid that couldn't walk I bought her a van you see like these are stories that you'll never hear I bought her a van just the other day I get a I get an email a little beautiful and I'll give you her mother's number so you can talk to a little beautiful girl that has cancer hey Marie so the mom hits me in the email I don't know if this is your email but my daughter she calls you Bubby she would like to see you I'm in La so I hit her back I'll be in L.A I'm gonna come see you this isn't Shack we're like all right whatever you say so I go see her and she wasn't doing well before before I wanted to go see her so now that I went to see her her spirits are up she's happy I told her to hang in there and you know just just seeing the kid kid smile you're seeing the kid smile I uh that's fulfilling to me you know to know that that our former high-level juvenile delinquent who all the experts said was going to be an army like his father who all the people said he was going to be a bum the only people said he wasn't going to do anything is now the guy that's that's making kids all around the world smile that's my thing I just want to make you smile after your NBA retirement your agents convened what I understand they called like a shack Summit right here at your Orlando home with some of your commercial partners why'd they do it and what was the benefit of doing so well Shaq Summit has been going on for many years uh you know I have a lot of endorsements I have a lot of Partnerships we wanted to create Synergy amongst the partners so everybody's working together you know really don't want me all over the place so you know and it's just a chance for other companies you know to do business for example uh Icy Hot distributed in a lot of places let's just say I have a a deal with a bubble gum company you can put the bubble gum company on the on the ICI box everybody sees it so again it was just a a chance for all the companies to have Synergy amongst one another and then the reason I did it after I retired I just wanted to let them know that you know it's been been a great run I'm not going anywhere uh if you want to continue to be to do business that would be appreciated if not we understand but trust me I'm just getting started and I think one of the companies used that first one after you retired the first Shack Summit to basically say well we aren't going to do this anymore and then after they saw what the event was and it was positive they changed their mind right yes they changed their mind uh you know because it's all about presence and uh you know when you're on the NBA team I think you're allowed to be on TV maybe 20 times a year uh and then the playoffs you know you're probably on a lot but I think with TNT where we're on over 100 times a year so the exposure would still be there and I don't think they really knew that or understood that and uh you know I told myself I'm not going anywhere I'm gonna be on this TNT show with the great Barclay uh Kenny Smith the great Ernie Johnson and we're going to have a good time and we'll be the number one show it was already the number one show but we just uh you know we just kept it going so you know the companies that they understood that and he stuck by me uh so does sedans speakers suits shoes jewelry lotions bombs fitness centers car washes burger restaurants I believe you make more money from endorsements Partnerships and TV you know some 20 plus million annually than you did when you were playing from that sort of stuff what motivates you what motivates me is is just having fun you know the Shag brand is all about the fun business it's never been about money with me I met Magic Johnson 19 years old they announced his name Crowd Goes Crazy they announced my name crowd also goes crazy first time I meet Magic Johnson he pulled me to the side and he said it's okay to be famous you want to start on the things 19 years old I'm like what the hell are you talking about but then as I watched him and I studied him I was like okay this is what it means and then my mother and father did a very good job of of keeping me educated keeping me understanding that that 80 percent of athletes when they're done playing have nothing so you know they stress education uh you know they forced me to go back to school get my bachelor's get my Master's my mother challenged me to get my doctorate I did that but along the way I was like you know what they're right because it was a lot of times where I could have had a career-ending injury and my mother always used to say you had a good game but what if you twist your knee and can't play no more what you gonna do what if you you blow your Achilles what if and the ironic thing was I knew that my career was going to end with a career ending injury I knew it why do you prefer not knowing the financial details of a deal before it's agreed upon because when you grew up not having money money should never motivate you and it doesn't motivate me you know being in partnership with somebody really motivates me helping a company go from A to Z really motivates me uh being a a role model to my children really motivates me what are your business goals where my business goals that's a great question you know just to just have a great partnership just to help my business and the other businesses expand and you know just to have fun you know you ask a question why I don't talk about money it's not important you know what's important for me is to go into Arizona and get a soda deal just to be everywhere you know just to show the kids that I'm fine you know just to show the kids that I have a personality that's what it's always always been about so you've had a lot of great business deals one of your biggest business regrets Starbucks tell the story so my agent calls me up and he says Howard Schultz wants to do business with you and I'm like coffee uh because growing up in my household never seen a black person drink coffee so it was my thought process that black people didn't drink coffee and by the way I love Gerardo biography yeah it's literally laughing out loud I never seen a black person drink coffee so I was like you know we always used to see the commercials fill it to the room with Brim we used to see the commercial but in my house it was always sweet tea hot chocolate I've never seen a prayer so I thought I didn't drink coffee so anyway Howard says Shaq I want to give you the opportunity to to go in with me and open up these Starbucks franchises in African-American communities and I'm always a guy that if I don't believe in it can't do it won't ever do it no no amount of money can make me endure something that I'm not 100 behind so I looked the great shows his face and said uh black people don't drink coffee sir I don't think it's gonna work you should have seen his face he was like was like all right you know we're still good friends today but that was one of my worst business decisions because now every time on every corner in every city in every country I see a Starbucks I'm like oh and then magic came and did the deal at the man he just did great with it one of your first Investments after you got to the NBA I believe were coin operated car washes and your financial advisor I think calls you one day and he's kind of freaking out because a quarter of a million dollars has gone missing take it from there I was I was being an irresponsible business owner because I had other monies coming in I was paying my bills and other monies but I was just I was just having too much fun just having too much fun you know it's my job wait but didn't you have the coin things in your bedroom yeah I had them in the house like like I would get the the coins and the quarters and I'd just take them home and I just put them in my safe but so much money was coming in and I didn't think you could take quarters and dimes to the bank like that like I didn't want to want them to think I was you know breaking into vending machine so I would just take them and you know just take them dump them in plastic bags and pillowcases and you know just put them in the house and he was like with 200 000 of us I was like I think I got it in my safe I got a whole bunch of quarters in my safe yeah explain your interest in being part of the SWAT team and the Rope you had put at your house I got two uncles and my my family that were all law enforcement I love law enforcement I love cops I love being a cop uh my final dream when I'm retired with everything no more TV and all that is to be Sheriff I realize that I have a voice I realize I speak all languages I speak to shalomian language I speak the brother language I speak the juvenile the language I speak the kitty language I speak the political language I think I'll be an excellent Sheriff and my business philosophy has not failed me yet Eisenhower said the greatest of leaders are the ones smart enough to hire people smarter than me so when I become Sheriff I'm gonna have some smart guys around me so I know I do a fabulous job but when I when I graduated from LA the LA Sheriff Academy put on the uniform and I go out it's like a movie like like we couldn't even do our job properly because people coming up taking pictures so I moved to to Grand Theft Auto similarly the same thing then I moved to crimes against children task force but as I'm looking at the squad guys I'm like I'm big I'm strong I can kick a door off so I go through the SWAT test everything's good except when it comes to climbing a rope I can't climb the Rope at all so I convinced him I said okay you know they were like well you're big we never had a guy that's big you know maybe we'll get I was like nah you can't give me nothing no no I don't nope because if you do that these guys that I'm walking in with they'll never trust me and that's why I went to the police academy I want you to give me no bags don't give me nothing I want to earn it I'm a son of a military drill sergeant we earn what's ours when every day doing during the championship years I don't know a feeling you know but after school I mean after practice I go to academy put on my uniform going to Academy so like no no don't give me but what about if you put knots in a rope yeah some places do that okay we'll do it all right give me a couple weeks so I put this on the side of my house I got a 50-foot rope with knots in it so every day I'm doing I couldn't do it so I think one day I just get pissed off and I'm doing it boom boom boom boom boom I'm so happy that I called my kids and everybody come outside I mean you know my house like three stories so I'm up there now so I'm looking at them but I forget where I was like hey look and I let go and uh I'll fall right back on my back and I was like you know what I don't think I want to be on a squat team anymore I'm done with the SWAT team but you know a lot of a lot of things like that I just you know I just love I just love challenges because again if you look at those guys that just so opposing and they're just so brave and I wanted to be there I wanted to be the last guy to come in kicking your door suspect get him in a prone position line them up house is secure bring them out everything's safe I love that and I was amazed by your commitment to it because when you're in the police academy this was actually in season while you're playing there'd be doing the playoffs all of that there'd be like practice stage in town practice would go to noon you'd be at the police academy from 1 to 10 p.m only time I didn't go was the neighborhood before games a lot a lot of times I'm gonna go to night before games what was your most memorable raid I can't talk about it you know that's illegal oh come on I I did have one where we hit the wrong house and and I'll let you look that up and I'll let you talk about you know you're not really allowed to talk about it because Virginia Beach yeah something like that you did your research I'm trying no yeah yeah you're a good detective I could tell you this though it was a it was in farm country you know how most houses they got the letters that you can buy at the store that you mail them right so he's looking for let's just say seven five four six but we went to 7549 but the nine one of the nails that came out and it may look like a six so we hit the wrong house what happened I can't tell you we got a lot of trouble let's put it that way tell about the different degrees that you have and and do you really have you mentioned you want one of your kids to be a lawyer do you really have uh interest in going to law schools yourself yeah I have interest in going to law school uh bachelor's degree I leave school I get 40 me I get 100 million I get 80 million but I'm getting calls once a week yeah you're doing movies you're doing albums but you promised me baby that you would go back to school never like to let my mom down so and then you know I left my junior year so I was only a few credit shorts so I go back to school one hot two hot summers in Baton Rouge and I'm loving it but I'm hating at the same time but I'm like just let me do this for my mom so in 2000 I graduated with my bachelor's degree but then I realized that when I go to a business meeting let's just say you're my agent and the guys over here talking about business they were they were hey Shaq how you doing then they talked to my guy and I found out to be disrespectful right I'm making a final decision anyway what you looking to majoring for I understand oh you don't think I understand your terms I'll be back University Phoenix uh masters of business just you know just to let them know that I understand what's going on so now you can talk to me and I'll relate the information to my agent don't even look at him you talk to me now about the terms about this about the JV all that stuff talk to me about it so I did that my mom comes and she set me up too she's like you know we don't have no doctors in the family like what do you mean she said we don't have any phds in the family so I'm like I could be the first out of all the O'Neills to be a doctor okay I'll be back so then I go to Barry University took me five years uh I become a PhD it was awesome and now it was awesome for me it's awesome for my for my kids I got I went to a parent parent-teacher conference one time and a guy recognized me as Dr O'Neill he didn't call me Shaq Dr Rooney you sir I also have a doctor and we had a whole conversation it was awesome like you know as a dad that was awesome being Shaq is awesome too but you know I come in a suit and this guy he addressed me his doctor and I was like like I'm looking at my son and my son's looking really proud like not only is he proud that I'm the shackster which is also prayer that his daddy is the doctor so even though I did it for myself I did it for them also and it's a building here in Orlando I want it I want it so bad and it's a lot of great lawyers here in Orlando see what I'm I'm good at I'm the black Jerry West I could put a hell of a hell of a team together so my goal is to just get these you know get these lawyers I got their own little law firms put them together and we make a hell of a partnership but again if I just buy a build and put my name on it with other lawyers they're going to be talking over my head you understand what I'm saying well if they know and understand that I also have a law degree I'm in charge everything will go right so think about Law School because I just wanna I just wanna not that I want to practice law I just want to have a law firm and take everything I want to be the new Johnny Cochran of law that's my goal and I talk about it all the time I use dreamful attraction it will happen one day just don't know when

Channel: Graham Bensinger

Views: 360,545

Keywords: Graham Bensinger, In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Sports Interview, Feature Interview, Sports Journalism, shaquille o'neal, shaq, shaq interview, shaq career, shaq kobe, shaq NBA, shaq MVP, shaq championship, shaq basketball, shaq home

Id: Mza5tTgh9hA

Length: 54min 51sec (3291 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 17 2023