When NBA icon Shaq spent nearly his entire $10 million annual salary in one day

From his first NBA salary, Shaquille O’Neal not only bought a Mercedes for himself, but also for his mother and father. In general, the basketball star used up his paychecks pretty quickly — especially before he learned how to manage money.

Now Shaq, who later became a successful businessman thanks to some important advice from his advisor, was a guest in a podcast by US entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. There he told how he once spent almost his entire annual salary in a single day.

NBA icon O’Neal: “How much does the Rolls Royce cost? Can I have three?”

“So when I moved to LA, I heard about my contract, 120 (million dollars) for 7 (years). So roughly around 20 per year. Then when I was in LA, I looked at some stuff (real estate) in the Hills. I asked how much does it cost for me? In wanted to pay cash. How much does the Rolls Royce cost? 300,000? Well, if I take three of those, like a million, it was just cash.”

Shaq continued his shopping spree until his agent called him to say he’d overdone it a bit:

NBA Legend Shaquille O’Neal: “I saw my check, I was mad”

To which Shaq replied, “No! It wasn’t 20 million, I only spent about 10!”

The problem was that O’Neal hadn’t accounted for the huge tax increase in California that came with his move from Florida (he previously played with the Orlando Magic) to Los Angeles. That’s why he earned “only” $10.9 million this year instead of the almost $20 he was expecting.

“Then when I saw my check for 10.9 million and I had spent 9 million. Boy was I mad at myself. I really was.”