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Shaquille O’Neal Says The Idea Of Jeff Bezos Scared Him Away From Trying To Buy The Phoenix Suns
After Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver was suspended for a year, with a $10 million fine, due to a racism, sexism, and sexual harassment scandal, the NBA world decided in unison, that the punishment wasn’t enough.
So with a lot of pressure from within the NBA, its front office and its players, Sarver decided that it was in everyone’s best interest to sell the Suns and Mercury franchises.
But who could be a potential new owner of the franchise(s)? Well, at the top of the list are some well known names, that are headlined by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Other big names with reported interest in taking over the franchise are Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, Laurene Powell Jobs (Apple) and Bob Iger (Disney).
Last year, Forbes had valued the Suns at $1.8-billion, but the asking price will reportedly be in the $3 to $4 billion range – a price tag that is more than affordable of any of the names in consideration.
With so many big names in the pool, former Phoenix Suns center and Hall of Famer, Shaquille O’Neal was scared off from becoming a potential owner, even though he’s expressed interest of becoming one for a while now.
Per CNBC:
The idea of bidding against the second-richest person in the world is understandably intimidating, even if you’re legendary former NBA big man Shaquille O’Neal.
O’Neal, a 7-foot-1 Hall of Famer, says Bezos’ massive net worth “scared” him away from his plans to make a bid for ownership of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. “Nobody on this planet can compete with Big Man JB,” O’Neal told TMZ Sports on Saturday, referring to Bezos, adding: “Because you know what? I just ordered 50 things off Amazon today. Big Man JB got that money coming in.”
O’Neal made similar comments during a recent episode of his podcast, “The Big Podcast.” “Jeff said he wants it, and a couple of other heavy hitters said they want it. I’m not even going to put my name in the bucket on this one. I’m not,”
