We all know how Shaq bought a Mercedes Benz for himself, his mother and his father with his first NBA salary. In general he went through his paycheck rather quickly, before getting to know how to handle money.

When Shaq, who later went on to become a successful business man, also thanks to some key advice by his agent, was guest on Gary Vee’s podcast, he talked about how he ended up spending almost an entire year’s salary in just one day.

“So now when I first get to LA, listen 120 through 7 [years]. What’s that, what I made what $20 [million] a year something like that.

So I get to LA now, I gotta floss Gary. I’m going over and I’m looking at matches in the hills. How much is this for me? Cash. How much is that Rolls Royce? 300,000? We get three of them, another million. Just straight cash.”

Shaq continued with his shopping spree until his agent called to tell him that he went a little overboard:

“‘You just spent your whole first-year salary’.”, to which Shaq responded, “No! 20 million, I only spent about 10!”

The problem was that O’Neal hadn’t considered the tax increase to nearly 50%, that came with his move from Florida to California. That’s why he ‘only’ made $10.9 million that year instead of the almost $20 he was expecting.

“So when I saw my cheque with 10.9 million and I had spent 9 million. Boy, was I upset with myself. I really was.”