SHAQUILLE O’Neal recounted how he walked away from a US$40 million (RM168 million) Reebok sneaker deal after “a lady ripped me a new a–hole while leaving the arena one day.”
The four-time NBA champion said in a podcast on Thursday that the woman called him a “motherf***er” for charging young kids exhorbitantly for shoes.
“I had US$2,000 in my pocket. I said, ‘Lady I don’t make the prices. Here you go, and she smacked the money out of my hand, [and said], ‘Why don’t you motherf***rs make a shoe that’s affordable?'”
That became a moment of realisation for O'Neal and he turned down a US$40 million, 5-year deal with Reebok.
“I was like, ‘You know what, she’s right.’ So that day, I cut ties with Reebok and started my own brand,” he recalled. “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.
“I went to my favourite store, Walmart, and we did a deal. I was in all stores and my price point for the shoes was US$19-US$29 and since then we sold over 400 million pairs. It’s not kids that don’t want to wear US$20 shoes, they don’t want to wear shoes that look like they cost US$20.”
However, there was no bad blood between him and the sponsors.
Earlier this year, O’Neal was part of a mega deal with Reebok, after the brand’s sale to Authentic Brands Group, in which he has owned shares in since 2015. - Agencies. August 28, 2021
